For Everything there is a Season
Dr. Leonard Sweet, pastor, professor and author, writes: “Small acts of faithfulness are often great acts of courage.” As I read that statement, I thought of David who had his sling, Rahab who hard her string, Sampson and his jawbone, and Aaron and his rod. I think of Mary who anointed the feet of Jesus with her ointment.
Sadhu Sundar Singh, a Christian Indian missionary of the early 1900’s so aptly said, “It is easy to die for Christ. It is hard to live for him. Dying takes only an hour or two, but to live for Christ means to die daily.” Indeed it does. It demands dying to our desires, our agenda, our opinions, our flesh so that we might walk in the Spirit.
And then C.S. Lewis, the great author and apologist, said, “There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else…. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work.”
To finish Sundar Singh’s quote we hear him say: “Only during the few years of this life are we given the privilege of serving each other and Christ… We shall have heaven forever, but only a short time for service here, and therefore we must not waste the opportunity.”
The Christian life is not a once-a- week happening, it is a day- to-day relationship with God. I’ve been spending some time in the Book of Ecclesiastes as I prepare for a Bible Study. Recently I was reading chapter 3. You know the chapter. It sounds so monotonous. “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted” and on and on.
We all know that life can become old, repetitive, and monotonous but this chapter has reminded me that every life has its season. It has reminded me that that what happens is we have to look at your life and the opportunities that God gives to live. And in doing so, you need to define what season of life you are in.
There are specific seasons (winter, fall, spring, summer: infancy, childhood, teen, adult, senior), there are specific times, there are numerous opportunities that give us the ability to have joy. To have pleasure and satisfaction. To worship and be connected with God and His people. We must be diligent and vigilant to walk through our life saying, “Okay, where am I? What season of life is this? And what opportunities provide themselves?”,
We all know how fast life moves. Solomon writes over 38 times in Ecclesiastes that life is a vapor or the morning fog which is here and gone in a matter of hours. Life moves so quickly that we can completely miss the opportunities that God gives in every single day to enjoy Him, to share His love, to live fully for His glory.
Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning once penned these words: “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; And only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”
How many opportunities and burning bushes has God placed in my path, but I didn’t see them. How many burning bushes has God places in my path, but I did not hear any call from God because I was too distracted by my Blackberry (or cell phone) – or TV, or schedule, or desires?
If you and I have not heard God call us by name lately, might it be because we’ve been walking right by burning bushes? If you and I have not seen any burning bushes could it be that we’ve been to hurried.
Why not take time today to enjoy a friend’s company, a child or grandchild’s conversation, a preying mantis that makes its way across a limb, the smells of the season. Let’s take time to listen to a friend’s cry, a neighbor’s plea or pray for a specific need. Let’s take time to talk with God, and share the love of Jesus.