Seasons
The snow is slowly melting and the white covered landscape is beginning to be transformed into a season of Spring. Nature is taking its winter coat off and allowing the sun to warm the days and bring about new beginnings.
Our lives move from season to season, not knowing what the year holds and especially what each day holds. It is strange to know that God above knows everything. He knows the situations and season that will chill us to the bones, the ones that will warm our hearts, the seasons that will send gentle rains and bring fresh new perspectives to our daily lives.
But just as the leaves and weather conform to season changes according to the heavenly plan...we too are called to conform to the heavenly plan that God has for our lives. We, of course are not just sitting on a tree branch, waiting for the wind to blow or for the weather to change...we are busy, going about the everyday routines of life. We have our plans in place and have a fairly structured itinerary.
But what happens when the winds do blow...and blow hard...and the season of life that we are so familiar with is disrupted? Do we float it out with a confident knowledge that God is in control and we will land where he has designated for us to be? Or...are we frantically flipped and flopped into a tizzy (I love that word) and can't seem to find a secure spot or someone/something to hold tight to? God is the only anchor who stays unchanged and unraveled.
Someone told me once that life is so comparable to nature. There must be some true significance to that because of the many references to nature that there are in the bible. But I found one verse about seasons to be a particular highlight... and I found it even more interesting that it is at the very beginning of the bible not buried deep within the books to follow. You might not have thought too much about it and just skimmed over the initial line...but look at it again:
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,
I have no commentary books here, but hang with me a minute and dissect it.
Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky....
what if there were no lights in the sky? No sun, no moon ...no stars. It would be a pretty dark and you wouldn't be able to distinguish one time frame from another...everything would seem to be the same....but then God tells us why.
To separate day from night. He's splitting things up and designating time frames...now they are not all running together…There is a dark and light, day and night and through out our lives we too will dark days and bright days.
And let them serve as signs....we know to look for them....and when we see them we can anticipate what is to come....for God has ordained a heavenly schedule and he is prompt... I love that....because think about it, if the sun was late rising or the moon late in debuting for the evening light...everything would be so off balance and undependable... but because God is faithful and trustworthy and a God of order...we don't have to wonder if things are going to run smoothly in the universal time schedule...we know they are. And when the darkened days are upon you and I we must know that God is the light that will come into our hearts…and guide us gently into our next season.
And the last part of the verse;
to mark seasons and days and years.
God doesn't need the markings...we do...he can keep it all organized without complication, we are the ones who need the signs...just like traffic signs; Stop, Yield, merge, one way...these are the signs of dark and light. For there are dark and light seasons in our lives...and we must stop and take time to recognize them. For some are to be yielded to, treated a certain way, or merged. While others are meant to grow us spiritually and develop in us a faith in God that is unwavering.
Ok, now look a minute at your life..as I am looking at mine....have we asked God to be the light of our sky? To help us separate dark from the light...the heavy things that we are carrying from the things that give us joy? Has he been trying to send us signs...and so often we dont take time to slow down and recognize them? Are we marking the seasons of our lives?God gently changes our seasons, and allows for new adventures and new challenges to keep us from being stagnant.
Maybe the signs and markers are not only a directive for where we are to go now but a reminder that stands steady with you for things which are to come. They may also serve as a remembrance of what has past..and how God has been loving and faithful all along.... never taking his eyes away from us. Our trust in God is merited by the loving deeds of order and plan that he has already demonstrated.
Seasons are a reality of life...There are the warm ones, the cold ones, the new ones, and the transforming ones. The experiences that we are confronted with are the signs that God is working and never idle....for he is teaching us to separate our ways from his ways.
For deep within our soul we are darkened with a sinful nature and God is the light that separates us from having to dwell in that darkness. He sent His son to take that darkness away by dying, literally giving up his life so that we could interact with and through the Holy light of God, His father and ours too.. Each experience is a sign of God's hand and each of them leaves a mark....may the mark that is left on your heart be one of God' s shining light that has cast away the shadows of darkness.
Dear Lord, Thank you for the seasons of our lives...for the hiccups that interrupt our seemingly unruffled plans. For through the seasons you teach us of your love, your strength, your comfort, your forgiveness, your plan, your joy and your vision.
We will have dark times no doubt Lord, and I ask you to separate those dark times from the ones of light...and may we realize that each of them brings balance and perspective to our lives....but Lord please do not let the dark ones overshadow the light ones...for even in the dark...you have promised to be the light....and I stand on that promise. Amen
Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!
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