What Seasons Can Teach Us

by Jennifer Haynie @JenniferHaynie1

There is a season for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

—Ecclesiastes 3:1

Change is in the air. Late August in North Carolina reveals the first signs of fall. Red tinges the green leaves of the dogwoods. Then there’s a row of trees on a street near our house whose leaves are already falling. Even some of the maples are starting to get hints of orange and red in them.

Seasons. I love them because right when I think I can’t take another day of summer, autumn arrives. Hot weather becomes cooler. The humidity slips away like a shadow at dusk. Leaves fall and crunch under my feet.

I used to hate the term seasons when talking about life. But the longer I’ve lived, the more I’ve come to appreciate the need to look at life in terms of seasons. There are the obvious seasons of life, like childhood, teenagerhood, being single, getting married, raising children, and the golden years.

Are these all seasons?

Absolutely.

But what about the other seasons, the ones we wouldn’t consider to be that? I recently read a fiction book where the leading lady had found herself in a very tough season of life. Two years before the book begins, she lost her husband and father in a tragic accident that severely injured her mother, who then had a stroke. This young woman had spent the past two years caring for her ailing mother while at the same time grieving two untimely deaths.

She brought up something in that book that struck me. She referred to Ecclesiastes 3, where King Solomon talks about seasons.

This character made a thought-provoking statement. She knew she was in a time of mourning. But she knew that one day, her time of mourning would turn to a time of rejoicing. She didn’t know when. She just knew that like our earthly seasons, our life seasons can change. And that hope gave her the strength to keep pushing forward when it would have been so easy to sink into depression.

I’ve been going through a tough time that has thrown me for a major loop. At times, it’s seemed as if there’s been no end in sight. But when I started reframing my issues in terms of seasons, something inside of me changed.

Yes, this is a difficult spot to be in. Yes, it’s been hard when I don’t feel good and sometimes feel like I can barely function. But this will change at some point. When, I don’t know. Soon, I hope, but that’s in God’s hands.

Knowing this is a season has enabled me to wait on God.

I think for all of us, we feel like this pandemic will never end. Will it? At some point. Other pandemics in our history ended. Only God knows that endpoint. But it’s a season in our lives, a very tough one no matter where we are in the world. For me, knowing that this will end makes it just a tiny bit easier to bear, to wait on God.

Remembering that seasons of life can change can enable us to wait patiently on God’s timing. #authenticity #encouragement Click To Tweet

Question: What has kept you going during a tough season of life?

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2 Comments

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  1. Todd Tripp says:

    Thanks Jennifer for a big morale boost. I’ve been wondering when we will get past this time of unrest and pandemic. Don’t know but we just have to keep going and be thankful for the blessings around us. I love the Bible verse.

    • Jennifer Haynie says:

      Thank you for your wonderful comment. I was on vacation when that post came out, so my apologies in delaying the post. I’m glad I could encourage you.