It's A New Season

It's summertime in central Illinois, and with it comes the familiar heat wave: 90%+ humidity and temperatures in the 90s. As a gardener, this season demands time and attention. It's a time for early morning watering to help plants survive the brutal heat, sun, and humidity. It's also a time for care, eliminating pests so that the plants can continue to grow and ultimately produce a harvest.

Every year, as I plan and prepare my garden, I can’t help but see the correlation between the seasons of the garden and the seasons of our lives.

The Seasons of the Garden

• Winter: A time for planning and vision. The ground is cold, grey, and frozen, but seed catalogs arrive, helping you envision what is to come. It’s a season for getting everything in order and designing your garden.

• Late Winter/Early Spring: Starting seeds indoors offers a glimpse of the new life to come. Tiny leaves push through the soil, a promise that growth is on its way.

• Summer: The season of tending. You plant outdoors and focus on nurturing, watering, and protecting your plants from pests. This is also a time for a second planting, as the warm soil is perfect for new growth.

• Fall: The harvest season. You reap the benefits of your work, and as plants reach their peak, you begin to remove those that are no longer producing, preparing the soil for the winter ahead.

A Season for Everything

This parallel between the garden and our lives is a powerful revelation. The Bible beautifully captures this truth in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to gain, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

A time to tear, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of peace."

Think about the seasons you’ve experienced in your own life.

• A season of youth, filled with joy and simple concerns.

• A season of adolescence, learning to drive or getting your first job, carrying the first responsibilities of adulthood.

• Seasons of hardship, like an unexpected divorce or job loss, where you are recovering and trying to find your footing.

• A season of illness, shifting your focus to health and healing.

  
  

Some of us get stuck in a season, carrying old behaviors from one to the next. Others live in a constant state of fear, believing they will miss their next season if they slow down. But what happens when we try to operate in the wrong season?

The Peril of Missing Your Season

Imagine trying to plant seeds in the frozen ground of winter, operating as if it's spring. You hack at the cold, hard soil, exerting extra effort. You plant the seed, proud of your labor, and then you wait. And wait. A week, a month, six weeks—and nothing happens.

Frustrated, you declare that you must have a "black thumb" and give up on gardening altogether. When spring actually arrives, you see everyone else’s gardens growing, but you miss your opportunity because you're still living in the frustration of winter.

This is the peril of not focusing on your season. If you were in a season of financial struggle and that has been resolved, live like you believe your situation is resolved. We must be wise with the resources God provides, but we shouldn’t hoard them, living as if we are still in a season of lack.

If you have experienced trauma, or sadness, or sickness, that is not a season you are meant to stay in. The Bible says in John 10:10:

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly."

Unexpected loss and unwanted changes happen to us all, but in any of our seasons of life, it is just that—a season. The seasons will come, and they will go. Don’t miss your spring because you’re still upset there was a winter.

Learn to ask the Lord, "What season am I in, and show me how to live in that season." If you are holding onto hurts, ideas, or failures from a past season, ask Him to show you so that you can let go of the things you've cared from your old season. Learn to live in this season and have a life that produces and is abundant.

As always, friends, be well-fed. Until next time.