The Seasons

We understand the changing seasons.  Even though you may have a favorite and a not so favorite, it's inevitable they will still happen.  We can find something good and not so good about each one.

Summer with it's late sunsets and bright sunshine smiling down on bright flowers and fresh cut grass. Sunscreen for protection but welcoming a sweet kiss of sunshine.    It also, depending on where you live, brings high humidity, mosquitoes, extreme heat, and sunburns. 

Fall has a smell that just screams FOOTBALL!!!! The beautiful changing colors of all the trees just make you feel like you are in a Hallmark movie. It just feels so cozy!   The only negative I can think of is you might feel bi-polar with your wardrobe....is it summer? is it fall? cold in the morning? warm in the afternoon? (I'm sure that's just Oklahoma!)

Winter brings hot cocoa, soups in the crockpot, Christmas decorations, sometimes snow, and my favorite....A FIRE in the fireplace!  As much as I love this season, I HATE TO BE COLD!  The chapped skin, crusty lips, layers of clothes to put on (and to keep up with), and cold feet.  (Why doesn't my husband like my cold feet on him?)

Spring is a sign of life again.  After what seems like a long winter, we find hope in the rain and flowers that pop up around.  However, this season  (for many in middle America and southern states)brings more apprehension than the others with deadly and destructive tornadoes and flooding.  The constant rain can also impact people's mood and it feels like you're surrounded by gloomy people.  At this point, I am praying for sunshine! 

I did not share anything that you did not know already, but you probably didn't realize each season can also be just as real in our spiritual lives.  Just as God created the world and everything in it, He also created the seasons.  He sees good in each one, even if you don't!  Season's represent a time for something:

2 Timothy 4: 2
"preach the word; be ready in season and out of season"
Here Paul is teaching us that there will be a season that people will receive the teaching and a season that people will only receive what feels good....But regardless PREACH.

Ecclesiastes 3:1
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven"
Celebrating, mourning, abundance, very tight, mountains high, valley low, birth, death, planting and harvest are all words we will experience in our lives at the right time (and yet we welcome some and question others)

Galatians 6:9
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
This just confirms that God knows they'll be seasons we won't like....so He tells us to do good.

I wanted to sum up your spiritual seasons in comparison to our earthly seasons:


A Season of Pleasure: This is your summer of abundance.  The sun is smiling all over you.  Things aren't just growing but are beautiful.  Breathtaking sunrises and peaceful sunsets, which are all the things that make you smile, feel proud, and even at peace, are bringing you closer to your maker.  Who wouldn't want to stay in this season forever?  God knows that it would not be healthy to remain here, never to be taught, stretched, and challenged. 

A Season of Pushing/Prompting: This is your Autumn.  You are feeling cozy, enjoying the smells, watching the beauty of nature around you and the Lord starts pushing you out of your comfort zone.  He understands that all the beauty that you are looking at, took a lot of hard work to get to that point.  He sees potential inside of you.  He knows that you'll have to rely on Him and He will reward your obedience.  When He pushes...don't push back.

A Season of Preparation: This is your winter where everything feels dead but it's very much alive.  Things may seem dormant in your life but God is preparing you.  Preparation is overlooked.  Without preparation, there can be no victory, no celebration, no relying on God and only relying on our self. We can not grow and mature without preparation.....we only complain and remain until He sees that we are ready to move forward.  In this season don't overlook the mentors and opportunities in your path.  They are there for a reason. 

A Season of Planting and Pruning: This is your spring.  Both planting and pruning require your time, hard work, and don't always feel good.  I see this season when God is asking much from you.  He is cutting things back.  None of it feels good and He is keeping your focus on the work rather than on yourself.  It can get messy.  It can feel gloomy if we let it (remember this is the season I am praying for sunshine). 

The seasons will come and will go so don't fight it.  Just as we find something good in each of our earthly seasons, we need to embrace our spiritual seasons. 

I can boldly say that I appreciate and look forward to each season.  I hope that means I'm maturing.  At one point in my life, I was a whiner, for every season except "pleasure".  If things weren't showering me with abundance.....It must be a spiritual battle....or so I thought.

Yes, our enemy, would like nothing more than to kill, steal, and destroy us.... BUT GOD has the ultimate plan and say.  Give Him more credit than that!  Trust Him. Obey Him. Listen to Him. Serve Him. Look to Him. Honor Him. Thank Him.

Embrace the Season,
Mrs. Pastor