There’s a Reason for Every Season
In the South, we name our beach cottages. Barb’s Folly was one of our favorites to rent. Her screened-in back porch on the second floor overlooked a weather-worn dock jutting out over a lazy canal, and fuchsia myrtle bushes dotted the landscape like splashes of paint. The outdoor back stairway wrapped around a palm tree that reached for the sky, its fronds eye-level with the second story porch.
Every morning, before the houseguests stirred, I snuggled in a rocking chair on the back porch with my coffee and my Bible. The first morning, I noticed a turtledove sitting on a nest resting in the fronds of the palm. I watched her. She watched me.
Midmorning, Daddy bird came to relieve her of her duties. He sat on the rail and squawked to announce his arrival. When she stood for them to exchange places, I noticed two tiny eggs peeking out from under the stubble. She left. He sat. After a brief time, Mamma bird returned, and they changed places.
For an entire week, this mamma bird did one thing—rested in the palm protecting her two tiny charges. When a violent storm rose and pelted the tree with tropical rain, she didn’t budge. When children ran up and down the stairs inches from her nest, she didn’t move. When cranes, pelicans, and seagulls swooped gracefully into the water and strutted about proudly, she stayed the course seemingly undeterred. For this season of her life, she didn’t falter in her calling, and remained faithful to the task at hand.
Solomon wrote: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1NIV).
We will all go through season in life. Raising a child. Caring for a parent. Building a career. Strengthening a marriage. Seasons all.
Seasons are part of God’s grand design for this earth: winter, spring, summer, fall. They are also part of God’s grand design for you and me: joy and sadness, struggle and peace, highs and lows, birth and loss. No matter what season we find ourselves, we can be sure that God is not absent in its happening—He is always there.
The word season implies that it is a period of time that will pass. If you’re in a tough season, know that it won’t last forever. Seasons are for a reason. In them we sink our roots deep into the soil of faith, spread wide the branches of trust, sprout new growth where there was none before and yes…rest… the dormancy of winter to catch our breath before the new season begins.
Paul wrote, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9). Let’s embrace the season we’re in! Give it our all! Rather than wish it away, find the hidden treasures.
On the last morning of our vacation, I was enjoying a final cup of coffee on the back porch with Mrs. Turtledove. As usual, Daddy Dove stopped perched on the railing and announced his arrival. But this time, when Mamma bird flew over to join him, two downy hatchlings with eyes yet to open reached their yellow beaks heavenward.
I realized God had given me a precious gift—a front-row seat to observe the contentment of a mother who reveled in her calling during this short season of life. Regardless of the storms, strangers, or the strutting of others, she stayed true to her purpose and calling for this period of time.
While I was musing about the importance of motherhood in this particular season of my life, my six-foot-one teenage son stumbled sleepily out onto the porch. I’m not sure if he saw the tears in my eyes as I looked at his ruffled hair, sleepy eyes, and face that needed a shave—a season was quickly coming to an end.
“Look, Buddy,” I said. “The eggs hatched today.”
Heavenly Father, I’ll admit I long for the joyful seasons to linger and the difficult season to pass quickly. Help me to remember that stages of life are called seasons for a reason. They come and they go. Help me to be at peace in every season, doing what You want me to do in that period of time In Jesus’ name, amen.
How would you title the season of life you’re in right now? Leave a comment and let’s share.
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© 2023 by Sharon Jaynes. All rights reserved.
