Seasons

Depending on where you live, seasons will be different.

In some parts of the world it's scorching hot nearly all year round with a short rainy season. Other places have sharp changes when the weather transitions from autumn to winter then to spring and summer.

I have lived in various parts of the world and it's always fascinating how seasons can be so different. I remember sipping a cool drink in Brazil on a very warm day in December (similar to Florida's weather) while the rest of the Eastern seaboard and Midwest struggled with snowstorms and freezing temperatures.

Just as the climate differs depending on the geographical location, so does the believer as he or she walks with the Lord. The author of Ecclesiastes understood these very real and spiritual seasons. We read in the opening of chapter 3, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (verse 1, KJV). Then follows a lengthy list of times and seasons we all have experienced in our lives.

The word season in the Hebrew means "appointed time".

We may have autumn times in our lives marked by mourning and loss. A time when the summer warmth and long days with friends and family have all but faded as a distant memory. We go through a wintry season in our spiritual lives where we feel cold and isolated from God's warm presence. This is a time where it seems life is buried under a thick layer of snow with little life to show and everything else is frozen shut. There are seasons when spiritual renewal melts away the last fringes of winter's icy grip and spring warms our hearts with renewed purpose and vision.

Whatever the season, it is an appointed time by God to work His life and forge His character into our lives. Beloved, if there is anything we can learn as we go through these seasons is consistency. Continue to pray and read the Word no matter if it's stormy, hot or cold or windy or mild. Faithfulness is what God desires from us and those spiritual seasons are only to strengthen our devotion to Him.

For behold, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. The flowers have already appeared in the land; The time has arrived for pruning the vines, And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.…
Song of Solomon 2:11-12, NIV