Seasons

I love the changing seasons here in the U.K. Some countries only have two seasons – wet and dry. Although I must admit our summers here are often less than we hope for, I’m glad our weather is more varied and unpredictable, really I am! 

As I was thinking about this, I wondered if our lives also have seasons. The seasons of childhood (spring), ‘middle age’ (summer), ‘old age’ (autumn), and finally our deaths (winter). I comfort myself with the idea that there is just as much beauty in an autumn leaf as a spring one, they’re just different. In fact an autumn leaf is more colourful!

 I believe there are seasons in our Spiritual lives too. Seasons of growth, when everything seems exciting, the possibilities are endless and God blesses us with new insights into His Love and Grace. There are seasons when we just enjoy the warmth of His Presence and wait for Him to reveal the next step, the next challenge before we journey on with Him. But there are seasons too, when everything appears cold and hard. We are trying to follow in His footsteps but God seems far away. We can’t understand why the world is so dark and our prayers go unanswered, at least that’s how it appears. But just as we see spring growing into summer, summer melting into autumn and autumn fading into winter; then I believe our Spiritual seasons are part of a natural rhythm given to us by our Creator, a Father who is gently calling each one of us to trust Him in our changing Seasons of Life. We can know that He is there for us if we have committed our lives into the Hands of the Master Gardener.

If we examine ourselves and find no cause for this ‘Winter of the Soul’, then we can know that God is working His Purpose out and that our Winter will give way to a new Spring. As we wait for it patiently, He will help us, for nothing can separate us from His Love (Romans 8 v 25, 26, 39).