The Daniel Fast

The Rainbow Pen!

 

Assessing Seasons of Life

 

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22). To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

There are four seasons that God has given to us: Spring, Summer, Autumn (Fall) and Winter. The four stages of life are like the four seasons of a year. There are many seasons of a human life. They apply for both your body and your mind. Each season of your life has experiences, from the womb to the tomb! Seasons are the consequence of time, and change or growth is inevitable. In the worlds of form, time is measured in years. In eternity, unbroken duration exists. Time is measured in recognizable stages: Child, Youth, Adult, Senior. We've difficult times and joyous times because it takes different seasons in our lives for God to awaken us to spiritual values, and what He'd have us do with our lives. God works in all the seasons of life to help you find faith and grow and mature. God works through the providences of life and fulfills His purposes in ways that at the time seem so mystifying. God works through normal people to achieve His will. God's math looks more like: your willingness + your weakness + God's will + supernatural power = your success!
But we keep a wrong equation in our hearts that adds up to something like the following: abilities+ experience+ training+ personality+ the past+ others' expectations= success.

The first stage of human life is the Birth and Childhood, Spring. Spring is very short and happy. Everything is beautiful and lusty. This is the season of optimism and hope. Life for every child is almost the beginning of a bright and a shiny future. Childhood is featured by innocence and vitality, physical stamina, tremendous urge for the outdoors, and a tremendous appetite for fun and play. Activities have no limits. No wonder Christ said the Kingdom belongs to children! The second stage of life is Youth, Summer. Summer is the best time in our lives, we are still young. This is the so called maturity age. The age line for Summer could be from the 20s to the 40s. Summer is the season of fertility and immense harvest. It is marked by pleasantness, warm rain, and a blooming of vegetation. The Earth itself is manifested with esteemed life. Similarly, Youth is marked by the end of childhood innocence, and the beginning of self consciousness and high spirits of romance. It is the peak and the glorious age of life. You decide which path of life to take and the plans to settle with the best of everything. Beauty and attraction symbolizes the physical color of Youth. The third stage of human life is the Middle Age, Autumn or Fall.

Autumn is characterized by beginning of dryness and slow deterioration of  leaves of trees and plants. Everything around begins to fade away and begins to look shabby. Similarly, Middle Age is featured by a very slowly degrading physical strength, slight change in outward appearance, relaxed mood and burdened with matured activities. By this time, all are treading towards Old Age season. We see life differently and quite often worry about the generation, quite often our own off springs. The main feature of Middle Age is parenthood. We also learn to look back at our own lives and become very nostalgic. Autumn includes spiritual experiences. Human beings are mature, their tiredness is reflected in their acts. We have to admit that we are getting old, we have to be satisfied of our deeds and we just let time pass by. And the fourth stage is the Old Age, Winter. It is marked by extreme dryness and cold. The days are short and nights are long. Physical strength begins to fall to an all time low. Health is always a major issue. At this stage people tend to become very spiritual. They become mentally prepared for death. Winter ultimately closes the year like Old Age closes life on Earth of a person to Eternal Life! 

Providentially, God controls the times and the seasons. He makes and unmakes kings. And the seasons of life happen very suddenly; they change very quickly. We don't choose those seasons; they're controlled by God. Others who were very active and vibrant, now find that their strength and energy has declined. How is God directing you in this season of life right now? Remember what you've learned about the Lord. Don't waste your experiences with Him. God can teach you something through it. God uses every season to teach you something, to communicate something about Himself, something about His faithfulness, something about His love in sending His Son, something about His strength, something about His power. Then notice the seasons of life can be productive. Life is brief, temporary and each season brings us different feelings and thoughts. Lifetime is a natural cycle, we are born, we grow up, we reproduce ourselves and die. The imagery is very clearly exposed: Spring describes childhood, Summer maturity, Autumn, when men wait the final moment and Winter the death. Death just happens once, it is everybody’s destiny and nobody can run away from it. Therefore examine your life in the light of eternity.

Take a spiritual look at Seasons of Life. If you're going through a season of life, and you don't think much is happening, be faithful to God; keep trusting Him. You're going to grow through that experience. God is up to something even when you don't see Him working. So you are encouraged, whatever season of life you're in, pain or disappointment, victory or success or some great blessing, to see the hand of God in it. Life is a combination of contrasting seasons. It's not all pleasure or all pain; it's a combination of both pain and pleasure. The seasons of life teach us that there's something right now God wants us to do, and we're not to put it off another moment. It might be in regard to making our life right with God or giving Him first place as our Lord, and so on. If we wait until conditions are right, we'll never get anything done. If you're growing in seasons of life, believe with all your heart that God will bring good out of it. It will be for ultimate good and for the glory of God. God has a time, season and purpose for everything. So seasons of life are abundant. Seasons of life are purposeful. God always has a purpose. All that happens in your life can work for good. God causes it to work for good, both the good and the bad, to work for good if you love Him and trust Him.