“Be ready in season and out of season.” 2 Timothy 4:2 NKJV.
Change is a real constant in life.
My thoughts and comments today are about “seasons.”
As a boy growing up in the Illinois, I enjoyed the change of seasons. September brought the cooling temperatures and changing colors of autumn, and every teenage boy’s dreaded job of raking and burning the fallen leaves. December brought the snow and cold of winter, but also snowmen and neighborhood snowball fights, and of course a Currier and Ives white Christmas. Spring produced the showers and multi-hued flowers of new growth and life. And then came the longer, warmer days of summer, with baseball in the street until dark. Each season was distinct in its own right, uniquely savored and enjoyed.
Why are you and I prone to seize upon a single season to our liking and try to make that one size fit all? When you struggle to do so and seem to succeed for a time, you make a life meant to be exciting and challenging into something dull and routine, even boring and joyless! Change is the only real constant in life; change is to be welcomed.
What would life be like if every day were the same, if every season of life were indistinguishable from another? Apparently, God values variety and diversity. Every snowflake is unique. Every fingerprint is individual. Creation established both day and night and the lights of Heaven to rule over each. The Creator dictated there would be seed time and harvest. The key to life is finding its rhythm and adjusting accordingly.
Seasons have beginnings and endings. Learn to anticipate and appreciate each new season. Every beginning will eventually yield to an ending; inevitably, that must be. And every ending is the promise of a new beginning; predictably, that will be. Listen to the practical wisdom of Solomon, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under Heaven . . a time to be born, a time to die . . a time to weep and a time to laugh . . a time to gain and a time to lose . . a time to keep silence and a time to speak . . He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 NKJV.
To be wise you must learn to recognize different seasons and to embrace its change as well. Paul encouraged Timothy, his protégé, to live and serve the same, whatever the season or circumstance. “In view of His appearing and Kingdom . . be prepared in season and out of season . .” 2 Timothy 4:2-5 NKJV. Seasons and situations change but your enthusiasm and expectation can be constant.
My sincere goal is that my life be as the man God’s Word describes, “Blessed is the man who . . is like a tree planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does will prosper.” Psalm 1:3 NIV. Be fruitful in the season of fruitfulness; do not wither when a different season comes; prosper whatever a new season brings. Much changes; God doesn’t; you mustn’t.
“Do not grow weary while doing good, for in due season you shall reap if you do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9 NKJV. God has meticulous timing, always in time, always on His time. I believe true spiritual maturity evidences the character trait of diversity with consistency, an integrity of heart and life that God and others expect.
My prayer for you today is that you hold fast to what is unchanging and eternal.