The Season of Things

Posted on April 18, 2007
Filed Under Uncategorized, Spirituality, Life, Love, Ministry, Singing |

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

What time is it? What time is it for you? For me? What season of our lives are we in anyway? Personally, I’ve experienced a lot of change here lately. I’m working, steadily, for the first time in years . . . that’s a HUGE change! I’m in a different season professionally than I was just two months ago - It feels like spring, like I’m planting . . . and pulling up some weeds. Within my family change also abounds. Our oldest son is 21 years old as of this January (so just how does one relate to an adult man/child?) while our youngest will be getting the keys to his new car in a little over a week from now. We, as parents, are moving into different seasons with both of them. Adult to adult with one; parent to he’s-thinking-he’s-an-adult with the other. Sigh. I’ve also very recently changed churches. We left our former church, one that we still love with grateful hearts, to explore the possibilities for growth, service, and community at our new one. Yes, the seasons are changing.

So what time is it?

I ask because I want to know. I don’t want to be in the wrong season in my life according to God’s divine time table. I don’t want to hang on to summer in one part of my life if God is attempting to usher in fall. I don’t want to look for the harvest in one relationship if God is trying to put it into winter’s deep sleep. I want to know and be in agreement with the time, even if I don’t necessarily agree with what the time represents.

For example, after seven years of ministering together in song, it appears, and I believe, that the time for His Beloved has concluded. It’s, personally, painful, a little confusing, and sad. I feel like I’m mourning the loss of . . . of . . . a dream? A purpose? Some relationships as I’ve known them? Yes. All of that and more. But that it’s come to its end is obvious, though I’ve strived against it. Ultimately, I’ve come to the place of rest, peace, optimism, and expectancy . . . because God is the Lord of the harvest no matter the season.

And, even though my heart is heavy beneath the burden of the good-bye, it is also encouraged with Solomon’s words that follow in Ecclesiates . . . that God has made everything beautiful in its time. Ironically enough, Everything is Beautiful is the title of His Beloved’s last CD . . . I can only trust and believe that it’s true. Amen.

So what time is it in your life? It is time to grab a garden shovel or a snow one? Is the sun shining, or are rain clouds over head? Is it time to strike out, or hunker down? Is it time to run, or to be still and know. I don’t know, but I do know the Lord over all our times is making everything beautiful in its time.

Peace and Blessings,

Nicole Walters