Embracing Your Season

This week is a somewhat abrupt transition from one season of life to another. Normally, I take a week or two before my teacher work begins to get my classroom set and get my mind (and heart) settled into the fact that a new schoolyear is about to begin. But this week, I went from a book launch, to a three-day writing trip, followed by the first day of teacher inservice—all in just one week!

The book launch was a lot of work, or rather, a lot of details and decisions, and by the time the launch event was over, I was definitely ready to start actually writing again. (For example, I may have written this post late at night in a random post-launch event burst of energy.) And ending the summer with a focused push on the next novel will help me go into the schoolyear with a greater sense of accomplishment, and a sense of having used the summer well, despite the fact that the publication process of my last book took up most of my writing days during the break.

It is such a blessing to be able to have one last intense bit of writing time to give me a sense of finality as I shift my focus from writing to teaching.

But the transition is hard. I often find myself thinking about and planning for the next season too early, instead of keeping my focus on my current season till it’s time to switch.

This summer, God has been gently showing me the value of embracing the season He has me in right now. Whatever your season is, God does have a purpose, not just for the season, but for His timing of how long it will last.

Today a writer, tomorrow a teacher—albeit one who also juggles writing, ministry and family, trying to fulfill all my responsibilities while keeping on top of the other areas of life as well. God has a purpose in this. There are people He wants me to invest in, lives He wants me to touch with His truth. The trick is, learning to embrace today’s season instead of letting our focus shift before God means it to.

In Psalm 31:15, David writes,
“My times are in Thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.”

Now, the context of this statement is David’s cry to God, voicing both his dependence on God and his trust in Him. Teaching sometimes feels like a battle, and I definitely need God’s help, but my seasons are not at all like anything David faced. But his statement still holds truth for me today.

My times are in God’s hands. I can rest in this season, embracing fully the work, lessons, and blessings He has for me in it, because He holds the seasons of my life. He knows each step of the way, and has planned only His best for me. I may not understand or like His “best” in a particular season, but I can accept it in trust, knowing that He is perfectly wise, perfectly good, and unfailingly faithful.

So, dear Reader, what season are you in? Are you struggling with a transition, or a bumpy patch in the road He has planned for you? Your times are in the hands of the very God who created the universe, who stretched out the sky and formed the earth, Who sees each tiny sparrow that falls from the sky, and who loves and knows you. (Matthew 10:29)

Embrace your season in simple faith that God knows what He is doing—and then watch Him do amazing things in and through your willing heart!

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