To Every Thing There is a Season

If you are someone who is privileged to live in a climate where there is a change of season, you know what a blessing it can be. In Virginia, we are now going full throttle into Fall, not only by the calendar date, but also by the cooler mornings, shorter days, and falling leaves. Although the trees haven’t yet displayed their full glory in color, we hope to observe that phenomenon in the coming weeks. However, everything has become pumpkin-flavored and fall festivities are underway. Of all the season changes, it seems to me that people look most forward to the change from summer to fall. I suppose part of it could be attributed to Southerners who are just done with the heat and humidity.

This past week, the potted flowers on my front porch were telling me their season was coming to an end. What used to be full, beautiful flowers surrounded by lush green leaves had become sparse, dull, and unruly.

Like it or not, it was time for a change.

A few hours later, I unloaded two pots of fresh mums from my car.

As I uprooted the remaining plants from the summer, I appreciated the happiness they gave me over the last several months. I remember how small they were when I planted them this spring and how I hoped they would grow and show off their beauty more and more as time moved on. The whole process reminded me that when we are planted someplace or somewhere in time, we may be immature in some regard. However, through the season, we can mature and grow into what we are called to be. And when we have fulfilled our duty, a change of season must occur.

Sometimes a change of season can be a relief. Sometimes a change of season can be painful. And sometimes it can be just downright confusing. In His sovereignty, the Lord leads us into different seasons of life. Perhaps you’re now reaping the benefits of a difficult previous season full of long-suffering. Perhaps you’re now experiencing hardships you never thought imaginable. Or perhaps you feel as though you’re in a holding pattern, not quite sure the purpose of this current season you are living.

In the time following the Israelites escape from bondage in Egypt, they wandered the desert for a very long forty years, during which they were unsure of the purpose of this season of their life.

Joshua 24:5-7

5 I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out.

6 And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea, and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea.

7 And when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.

The Lord had reasons for the long season in which the Israelites wandered the wilderness. Not only was it a time to prepare them for future tasks, it provided time for the young ones in the group to reach maturity and become leaders in the Promised Land where the elders of the group would not enter. The Lord also has a plan for the season you’re in right now.

There is a time for all things in this world. It can’t be explained any more clearly than it is in the third chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

If this passage sounds familiar to you, it could be because it was made into the lyrics of a popular song named “Turn, Turn, Turn, (To Every Thing There is a Season)” released by The Byrds in 1965. As the lyrics of the song (minus a few words added by the writer) uses these verses straight from the King James Bible, it emphasizes that life is full of different seasons: life/death, weeping/laughing, mourning/dancing, acquiring/losing, silence/speaking, loving/hating, and war/peace to name just a few. As Ecclesiastes 3:2 says, there is also a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted, just as I found myself doing on my front porch last week.

Ponder this.

I don’t know how these thoughts will apply to your life today. At any given moment, each of us are experiencing a different season of life. Maybe you are transitioning to retirement or to becoming an empty nester. Perhaps you are battling a chronic illness or rejoicing over the birth of your firstborn. It’s possible today is the first day of a new job or the first day of unexpected unemployment. Maybe it’s the first week of your new life as a believer in Christ.

Can I encourage you to embrace the season of life you’re in, like it or not? Don’t rush through this season without learning a few things. Sure, you may be waiting with anticipation for the next one, but the season you’re in is important – a time of purpose under heaven.

What will you do with this day you’ve been given? How will you make it matter for His Kingdom?