If there’s something God’s been teaching me lately, it’s that life is all about seasons. I’ve heard multiple sources say that life is much more about different seasons for growth than it is about arriving at a destination. (If you know otherwise, please comment below.)
To be perfectly honest, I’ve found this to be rather earth shattering news. I think I had heard rumors of this before, but never realized quite how universal it was. Particularly when it comes to the topics of careers and dating/marriage relationships.
It took you how long to figure out what you wanted to do?? You found your dream job, but it still wasn’t totally satisfying? Your passions changed when?
Wait. No matter who it is, you have to fight for the relationship? Relationships are really hard, but they’re also super great? You’ve been married 30+ years and you still can’t fully understand the other person’s thoughts and feelings completely?
(I blame our society’s love of degrees and Disney for promoting delusional thinking among young women around the world…)
Sometimes in these moments of realization, life itself seems like an unattainable goal. Where does what you’re striving for and what you want ever meet? How can you foresee the outcome when the reality/measure you thought existed…doesn’t?
Friday night, I happened to be in a short, but lovely conversation with a woman named Patti and my roommate. Patti brought up the idea of seasons, once again. She blatantly stated that life is made up of seasons, and that it’s ok to be where you are.
My roommate mentioned that it’s just so hard because we want to be able to figure everything out.
To which Ms. Patti simply replied, “That’s control, sweetie. You gotta let that go.”
TRUST JESUS AND LET IT GO.
When she said those words, they made perfect sense. By trying to over-analyze and figure out so much of my future, I’m inadvertently trying to control it instead of trust that God has a good plan and that He’s going to guide me. Trusting Him regardless of if I know exactly where He’s leading me.
I can also see how that plays into other relationships as well. By trying to over-figure-out someone or their responses, I sometimes forget what’s more important…. trusting them. Trusting who I know them to be, regardless of if I understand their thought process.
The thing about seasons is that you don’t really know they are happening until they’ve happened. They are hard to measure and it’s hard to predict how long they will last. (Which is probably why we’re always trying to guess at figuring them out.)
Fall has by far become my favorite season of the year (colorful leaves and pumpkin spice lattes are hard to beat), but today I realized that for the past 2 years fall and into winter has been a difficult time, full of heartache, pain, growth, feeling…out of control, but eventually leading to restoration.
Honestly, I don’t see the season I’m in as an easy one at all, but that quite possibly means that it is a necessary one.
The things to remember in any season are that God is good and His timing is perfect. Believe it or not, focusing on those truths actually look a little like trusting Him.
So, as I walk through this season, and as you walk through yours, I pray the Holy Spirit would bring comfort as we trust God’s guidance and provision each day, and that each season He takes us through would lead us closer to Him.
Can you relate to having seasons?
