Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 (NLT) 3 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. 2 A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4 A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.
Fall is truly one of my favorite times of year; from the cooler temps to the wind-blown trees. As I am all about comfort, I love the chance to wear my sweatshirts, jeans and comfy socks… and this time of year presents just that opportunity. As I was riding down the street the other day the trees and their colorful changing leaves caught my attention. It’s such a beautiful sight to see the greens, oranges and browns mixed together as the wind blows through them. You can see some of them falling to the ground while some are still hanging on for dear life. It’s a time of death but, with the promise of new growth…a season we are guaranteed to see every year.
Once I got home, I thought back to the scenery and it reminded me of our growth in and through Christ. I thought about how we go through seasons of death, but if we are steadfast in Him then we are promised new growth. Like the trees, we go through a process of thriving in our lives and our spirituality starts to grow. Little by little we’ll see the new faith and strength until we feel full of life and beauty. Then, as time passes we begin to feel as if we are stuck and things are starting to fall apart again or we can’t find that fullness that we once had.
Sometimes in our Christian walk we have times of great growth; where we feel filled with the presence of God and ready to do His will. As time passes we soon become content and too comfortable and we attempt to stay right where we are instead of continually growing; shedding the old and renewing ourselves with the new. Because of that we sometimes get into these ruts where we can’t feel God like we used to. Our passion begins to wither and we even sometimes fear we have lost Him altogether. So we try to continue on in the things that once made us happy or try to force those old familiar ways to bring back that same happiness we once had. The problem is it doesn’t work because we are not spiritually in that same place anymore; it becomes time to move on.
Just as the leaves on the trees that go through the process of being full and beautiful to withering and falling…but, then onto re-growth of full and beautiful again…so must we. God doesn’t just call us to a level of spirituality or people and places, then expect us to stay there. He wants us to be continually growing and seeking Him and His will for our lives. Reaching new and deeper levels of His presence as well as touching new people He has placed in our lives. However, in order to obtain this we must sometimes be willing to let go of the old things…even things that once felt good or we worked very well.
When we live our lives for God, we don't always stay in one place for too long. There will always be seasons of thriving where we’re at, shedding the old and even times of just standing still. Staying close to God through prayer and reading as well as trusting Him helps us to determine which season we are in. I would like to caution, from my own personal experience, that when we’re in those times of shedding and stillness it’s important to not lose focus on God. Even when we can’t “feel” Him, we must learn to still trust Him and stay diligent in our faith.
I can totally relate to how difficult it can be to grow in Christ, especially when we think we’ve reached a place and time in our lives that seems to work so well and we just want to stay where we’re at. However, God is faithful, true and has infinite wisdom…He will never leave us nor forsake us!
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