Next Season of our Life


 

When the snow and ice had passed and the sunshine brought the clean up of yards and gardens, things appeared so bare and empty. The little garden outside the back door to my office is all dried out and picked up. A few green plants have hung in through the winter storm and eagerly await the coming of Spring. The bird bath is dry, and the birds are silent. For the moment. Only for the moment.
Soon things will change. As the days grow longer and temperatures climb, life will seem to burst forth once again. There will be flowers to enjoy, and weeds to pull. There will be lush lawns, and grass to mow. There will be lots and lots of sunshine, and high electricity and water bills. Every season brings its own joys. Every season brings its own challenges. And every season brings glimpses of its own beauty.
The challenge is to find patience and perspective as our lives move through season after season. There is so much we cannot expect. Life is full of surprises, some good and some bad. But we do know for a certainty that seasons will come and go, bringing change and, in their own way, bringing gifts. It is the sum of our seasons that make us who we are.
We read in 2 Peter, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” From our perspective, the seasons race by, seemingly coming faster and faster the older we get. We have no control; we live our lives in that “ever flowing stream” that is time. God has a different vantage point. God sees our lives as a whole, while we see our lives in moments. God is with us in each moment, but does not define us by each moment. God has a long view of things, yet is with us with every breath. Whether a day or a thousand years, all come and go in the unchanging presence and love of God. Our lives unfold, through all its seasons and all its changes, in that same unchanging presence and love.
That is the hope we hold for our spiritual Spring. It will surely come, for God is surely with us. God is surely already waiting there for us in the next season of our life.
Peace.

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