Rebecca Inglis - January 6, 2019
Seasons
I’m not really a fan of winter. I don’t like to be cold. I can’t do so many things I love to do when it’s winter. The beach isn’t as fun in winter, and it’s often dark and rainy and cold. I struggle to feel as happy in winter as I do in summer. I can be a bit sulky as winter approaches because I feel like the best part of the year is over, and I grieve the loss of the warmth. This time last year I left the comforts of lazy days reading my book on the beach to fly to New York. I arrived just before they closed JFK airport for 2 days due to a ‘bomb cyclone’ (a fancy name for an intense winter snow storm) and -17℃ temperatures. I knew New York would be cold, but this was ridiculous. I wanted to be back at the beach, swimming in the ocean and walking along rock pools at sunset. This was so far from my current reality. However, it actually didn’t take me too long to embrace the conditions. I rugged up in so many clothes that it was hard to move. I made my first snow man, my first snow angel, threw snowballs at my friend, went ice-skating in Central Park. I even had fun shovelling snow from the driveway. There was no way I was going to place myself in this type of weather again, so I decided to make the most of the uniqueness of that season. Weather patterns generally take the form of four seasons. But in our lives, there are dozens of different seasons, each involving good and bad. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “God has made everything beautiful for its own time.” God can take even the bad things and, in the proper season, turn them around and use them for good in the way He intends. We may be going through a season that is not beautiful. Our finances may look ugly. Our health may look ugly. Our marriage or a friendship look ugly. Our future might even look ugly. Just as God determines the weather, He also controls the seasons in our lives. Do we resist those seasons and complain about the ‘snowy’ conditions on the horizon? Or do we trust God and thank Him for whatever He has planned for us? Ecclesiastes reminds us that if we’re following God’s will, if we’re trying to live life the way God wants us to live, we’ll eventually see that these experiences can have purpose and value. There’s a time and season for everything.
Scripture References: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
From Series: "Satisfied?"
Are you Satisfied with life? Truly? The book of Ecclesiastes records Solomon's wrestle with satisfaction in many areas of life.
