The Seasons of Life

By Marilyn Harrell

“To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the
heaven.” Ecclesiates 3:1

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 (KJV)

With the arrival of October I always think of the changing of the seasons. The leaves will have begun to take on their fall colors of yellow, red, gold, and orange. According to Ecclesiastes 3: 1 the Bible says there is a season for everything. Most of us have a favorite season and there is something unique about each one of them. Sometimes I think Spring must be my favorite with all the pretty flowers, the trees putting on their fresh green leaves, and the signs of new life all around. But then there are the March winds and the April showers that come along and it makes me wish for the drier days of summer.

Summer arrives and promises days of relaxation and vacation, softball games and walks with friends. Sometimes these beautiful summer days with the bright blue cloudless skies turn into deathtraps when the temperatures soar past 100 and there is no rain in sight for weeks at a time. Just when we think we can’t take anymore of this Mississippi heat, October arrives and we begin to get cooler weather. Now it’s time for football games and for gathering in the farm crops out of the fields. Suddenly the weather turns from dry to soggy and there’s no way to get into the football field or the cornfield without sinking in the mud. In December we start the winter season. There are so many holidays to think about at the beginning of winter…..Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. But how about those long, cold, snowy, wet winter days from the middle of January until spring starts budding out again? Each season has its ups and downs. So it is with the seasons of our lives.

Some of us may be in the same season that describes Herod in Luke 23: 8. “And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.” (KJV) Have you ever known people who seemed to want to meet Jesus, but not for the right reason? Maybe they were like Herod and just wanted to see a miracle or hoped that Jesus might get them out of the mess they had gotten themselves into. Just a few verses after Luke 23:8 the Bible says Herod sent Jesus away to be tried before Pilate. For some people, if Jesus doesn’t “perform” as they think he should, He is discarded and the search for an “easy-out” continues.

Maybe your season is the same as Moses in Hebrews 11: 25, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” (KJV) How many of us have chosen the pleasures of sin instead of suffering affliction with the people of God? In this day of instant food, instant knowledge, and instant entertainment, it is becoming a rarity to see Christians who will deny themselves sinful pleasures in order to have a closer walk with God.

The season of Israel in II Chronicles 15: 3-4 “Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. (KJV) Sometimes large groups of people turn away from the Lord for a long time. But there is a promise that if we seek the Lord (and turn from our wicked ways) He will be found of us.

May God help us to live each day in the season David wrote about in Psalm 1: 1-3 “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (KJV)