A Season and a Time

It’s the time of year when it’s still dark when I leave my house for the day. On one particular morning this week, I put on my jacket and gathered my things with more reluctance than usual. I was tired, trying to ignore a headache that was becoming more and more insistent, and I felt very much like curling up and going back to sleep.

But as I stepped out into the crisp, quiet morning, I couldn’t help but think that breathing in this early freshness might just be worth the struggle to get out the door. The street lights illumined the leaves along the road, showing off the brilliance of their colors even in the pre-dawn gloom. As I walked into my classroom and began setting things up for the day, I flipped the page on my Bible verse calendar and read the following:

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1

I still had a headache, I was still tired, but I went about my morning reminded that the difficulties and beauties of the day were all in season.

In this season of life God has put me in at the moment, these October mornings are early, dark, and usually accompanied by a measure of physical exhaustion. But the beauty of changing leaves and the freshness of crisp mornings reminds me that seasons are not permanent—and that if I embrace the season God has me in, the nearness of His presence will beautify the season with His goodness.

On those early mornings when sleeping in seems far more inviting than getting up and going out into the darkness, I am motivated and encouraged by the truth that God has a very specific, detailed plan for my day. I can push through the early morning inertia because I know that God has good things to accomplish, and that He will help me as I choose to follow His plan.

The seasons of life are not always pleasant. Ecclesiastes 3 goes on to list many things for which there is a time and a season, over half of which we would view as negatives. We wouldn’t look forward to a season of weeping or mourning, for example, but there is a time and purpose for every season—not just the ones that are pleasant to us.

Dear Reader, what kind of season are you in today? God is there in your season with you, and He knows exactly what purpose the season is to accomplish. Look to Him, keep your focus on Him, and choose to embrace His purpose.  

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9