Photo by Mitchell Orr on Unsplash
By Yvette Walker
I’ve been reading Sarah Philpott’s new book, “A Growing Season.” It’s a year of down on the farm devotions, and it’s really got me thinking about seasons in life, and the fact that everything – and everyone — is only around for a season. Some seasons are longer, some shorter. Sometimes we wonder why relationships end, people die and things break.
But we must remember that the only relationship that never dies is the one with God. Sarah says she wrote her book for the reader but also for herself, “to help us both stay focused on God and to grow in him.” It’s a great book, one I’m thoroughly enjoying reading. It’s available now at her website, allamericanmom.net and on Amazon.
I’ll share an episode with Sarah soon, where we’ll talk about God’s design – the cycle of trusting, sowing and reaping, and keeping rooted in His desire for our life.
I have experienced this cycle. I bet you have too. But we must trust that God know our needs and fulfills them, remaining faithful to all who love Him and keep His commandments. But still, when we experience loss, our human ability to understand is limited. Loss often is unexpected, and sometime profound, like when we lose a child to cancer or have an accident that changes our lives.
Loss sometimes can be smaller, but also impactful. I wrote a last month ago about losing hope after I thought I lost my phone, which fell off the top of my car. Well, yesterday, I learned that my experience really was about seasons. I was driving home from school and I heard the familiar ka-thump that I once heard before. I didn’t stop immediately because it took me a few seconds to realize what it was. It was the sound of my phone leaving the car.
I say leaving the car, because I honestly don’t know how it happened. The last time was my fault. I left the phone on top of the car because I had too many things in my hand and I was trying to do too much. This time, the phone was in my pocket.
Like before, I parked my car and got out to walk the road. I wasn’t hopeless this time, like before. And God was faithful. There it was, my phone, in the middle of a busy road. Just as I spotted it, a car ran over the phone. I waited until the road was clear, picked it up and turned it over.
The phone was toast. The screen cracked and it seemingly was dead. On the long walk back to my car, I thought, maybe God is trying to tell me something about this phone. Maybe the short season of this phone (I got it in 2020) was over. Funny though – when I got in the car, the phone synced with the car and, if someone calls me, I can hear over it.
As I said, this loss is small but somewhat profound. If you are like me, your phone plays a very important role in today’s technology-driiven life, work, even Bible study and devotions. But God reminded me that it’s not more important than Him, and because he allowed me to find it – again – showed me that he’s still faithful. (UPDATE 10.21: Five days later, I’m still without this phone. It’s been an interesting week, and one that I will write about in the next blog/podcast post.)
Ecclesiastes is the beautifully written verse many believed to be authored by King Solomon. It follows Proverbs and gives advice. And in chapter 3, we learn about seasons.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
I pray we all learn that only God’s love and faithfulness is eternal.
