I’d say everyone reading this essay lives in a climate controlled world. We have a little gadget on our wall that controls the temperature in our rooms. We have a similar thing in our vehicles. Our shopping places have it, our workplaces have it, even if we can’t access it, there is one… But only God is in ultimate control of the temperature.
In the spring, the ground warms and the Creator’s cycle of life shows itself with fresh green shoots and flowers. No cold dark season lasts longer than He has ordained. Beneath what we can see, there are fresh starts just waiting for His perfect time.
Spring gives way to full blown summer. There is a wonderful magnificence of colorful flowers, fruits, vegetables growing to maturity. The days are long and the blessings of Creation flow.
In His wisdom, God changed the seasons. We fuss about pollen in the spring. We complain about the heat in the summer, and then about cold in the winter. As the flowers fade, we find ourselves anxiously looking forward to the cool of autumn.
In the autumn, the leaves change colors just before they surrender and ready the tree for winter. The nutrients they have produced are stored in the trunk and the roots. The leaves, having served their purpose, fall around the tree to replenish the soil. Winter comes and the soil beneath the surface is busy. Root systems are expanded and strengthened. Freezing expands the soil, melting contracts it, acting like a gentle plow to loosen the soil for easy access of nutrients, water, and oxygen.
Genesis 8:22 tells us of the covenant God made with Noah. “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” NEVER.
There is a predictable rhythm of creation. The changing of the seasons serve as testimony to His supreme order in all His creation.
“He changes times and seasons. He sets up kings. He removes them from power. The wisdom of those who are wise comes from Him. He gives knowledge to those who have understanding.
He explains deep and hidden things. He knows what happens in the darkest places. And where He is, everything is light.”
(Daniel 2:21-22 NASB) We simply cannot control the seasons and neither can we control the season of our own personal lives. The changing seasons of our dwelling place here on Earth is not an indication of some cosmic chaos. Rather, it is a very visible evidence that our Creator God is in complete control and will never mismanage or neglect tending to the timeline of our existence.
The sun knows when to rise, and when to set.
The seasons change, in His perfect time.
We all have similar seasons in our lives. In the autumn of life, there is a transition, a letting go of things. Like the trees releasing their leaves, we learn to surrender the things that cannot survive what is coming next. Just like the trees, He prunes and sturdies us. But being in a winter season doesn’t mean God has withdrawn or neglected us. What He is doing in silence is growing deeper roots in us, perhaps forcing a time of rest.
We may reflect in regret on our spring and summer seasons of life and see that we hoarded the harvest, maybe we didn’t share our seasons’ bounty as we might have.
Or, maybe we wish we had enjoyed the season more instead of complaining about the heat and busyness.
The God who controls the climate of your summer will still be controlling the climate or your winter.
There is order and purpose in it. Moses spent 40 years in a desert.
Joseph spent years in a dungeon.
Job, after he lost everything waited thru the unexplained suffering and grief.
Who are we to assume God does not have purpose in what He allows in our seasons?
A spiritual season of Autumn transitions us from that busy summer of growing and producing into a time of reflecting ON it, appreciating what we took for granted in the midst of the moments. I know I am in the autumn of my life. I have grown to accept that there is no thermostat for me to adjust. That I am in control has always been a lie. I have choices and decisions, but no ultimate control. Maybe I assumed there would be an endless summer to my life, endless energy, lots of successful productivity.
No.
Like the tree leaves shedding, I’ve found myself releasing things I no longer need. Too many pots and pans in a house with only two people to cook for. Too many clothes for a person that doesn’t go anywhere very often anymore. Too many beds, too many chairs. The season of a house full of people has passed.
Reflecting on my spring and summer seasons brings some regrets, but also some smiles. As the leaves of my life begin to sprinkle down, I know winter is coming, so I purpose myself to enjoy this present season, soaking in every moment, being thankful for the blooming seasons, for the time of laboring, appreciating what has been, but not allowing that to steal what is yet to come
