Seasons make a huge difference. Here in Canada, you won’t want to go outside in a t-shirt in January, but you also won’t want to go outside with snow pants in July – both scenarios would be intolerable! Our Canadian seasons are drastically different, and we adjust accordingly – like all good Canadians do.
King Solomon once famously said “For everything there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Spiritually, we also go through seasons. I recently heard an amazing teaching on spiritual seasons and how God works in us and through us differently in the different seasons He calls us to. In their teaching, the Pastor explained how the Fall seasons of our lives are typically marked by things falling off and ending. They also added that ‘success’ looks very different in our different seasons. Where Spring and Summer seasons are often measured by fruitfulness, Fall and Winter seasons should be measured by our yieldedness to God. What is asked of us looks different in different seasons.
If you find yourself in a Fall season, here are a few wonderful things God might be doing. For one thing, He might be pruning some things in your life and removing what might not be working very well. Someone once said that ‘giving up what isn’t working isn’t hard, but giving up what is almost working is very hard’. When something ALMOST works, it’s very tempting to keep working harder, try something different or push a little more to get it to work well. It seems like we’re so close. It might be a relationship, a friendship, a job, a project. Sometimes, God brings things to an end, even when we wanted to try again. The theme of Fall seasons is “Will we trust God enough to yield to Him even here”?
Another thing God might be doing is revealing hidden motives, pulling back layers to reveal what’s hidden behind the scenes. In the hustle and bustle of busy seasons, we often miss things, important things. An example I can give is my own garden. During Spring and especially Summer, the garden explodes with the greenery of various plants, trees and bushes. It’s full of life! But when Fall comes, everything falls off the branches, seasonal plants wither away, and suddenly what was hidden behind all the busy greenery is evident. Balls and frisbees we thought were lost are found. Last Summer we had beautiful climbing ivies in the garden which came out of nowhere. But in the Fall, after the leaves fell, we saw that the climbing ivy had been slowly twisting itself around other plants, including our miniature Lilac tree. Someone more knowledgeable than me who came to visit pointed out that the ivy had been slowly trying to chock out all other plants in the previous season and if we didn’t remove it before Springtime, it would continue its slow extermination of other plants. If it wasn’t for the barrenness of the Fall season, we would never have noticed the murderous intentions of the climbing ivy! But now the threat has been dealt with and Spring can come again without risk to the other thriving plants. Fall and Winter with their barrenness aren’t always pretty, but they can reveal what had been hidden previously.
Fall and Winter seasons also have a very different pace than Spring and Summer. If we’re used to a fast pace, it might be hard to slow down, and to perform or achieve less in a Fall or Winter season. But ‘business’ is not a fruit of the Spirit. In a Fall or Winter season, we have more opportunities to choose ‘the better thing’ and be like Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet (Luke 10:42).
Heavenly Father, thank You that You are present and working in all seasons for our good and for Your glory. God we ask for wisdom and discernment so we can know what season we’re in, what we’re called to in this season, and to be in-step with You and what You are doing now. Please help us to see the beauty in whatever season we are in currently and to make room for You to move. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen!
