there is a season

How have your last few weeks been? For me, I have been very aware of life’s dramatic extremes.

The quiet times of an empty house and the busy times of a house full of people we love, including our children. Our plants giving us the last of their sweet peppers while the annual herbs wilt and die just next to them. The joy of our daughter’s wedding and the loss of a dear friend’s sister. The celebration of a young man, our son Eli, turning 22 and then fear gripping us finding out our daughter was in a car crash. (To those of you reading this who may know her, it was at a low speed, everyone is fine and with no injuries).  

But isn’t life like that? Up and down. Constantly in motion. Constantly unexpected. Even though I find the word “season” over used in almost every aspect of print media right now, I keep coming back to the truth in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build, 

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 

a time to search and a time to give up, 

a time to keep and a time to throw away, 

a time to tear and a time to mend, 

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Life is full of seasons that we can and should embrace no matter what they bring. And my favorite part is the writer’s words in verse 11. “God has made everything beautiful in its time.” 

Front Yard Trees With A Box Camera

During these seasons, may your heart be at peace. If your current season is tough, hold on tight. You can make it through. If it is a season that brings joy and new growth, enjoy it all while you can. Prepare your heart because another season is coming with the promise that God makes everything beautiful in its time. And if God is making it beautiful then clearly he is present with us. 

Searching for wisdom and asking for grace,

Jody