Monday, September 7, 2020

Seasons

 



With Labor Day we mark the end of summer and the coming of autumn. Just like the seasons of the year, our lives go through seasons. 

 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    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 from embracing,
    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.

 

 

 

Things to think about:

·      Seasons are different than the weather.  The weather is a daily event and can change pretty rapidly.  (What is the joke about Cincinnati weather? If you don’t like it, stick around for an hour, it’ll change!)  Seasons are longer and more consistent in their nature. 

·      There is a natural ebb and flow to the seasons of life that is God-ordained.  Each season has its own merits, although some may be more pleasant.

·      The chart below is totally of my own doing (feel free to move things around to your liking) but I attempted to arrange the fourteen different pairs based on their positive or negative qualities and relative intensities into the four seasons of the year.  For example, Love is in Summer (positive and more intense) with Hate in Winter (negative and more intense).

 

Spring

·      Plant

·      Build

·      Gather

·      Embrace

·      Search

·      Keep

·      Tear

·      Speak

Summer

·      Born

·      Heal

·      Laugh

·      Dance

·      Love

·      Peace

Autumn

·      Uproot

·      Tear Down

·      Scatter

·      Refrain

·      Give up

·      Throw away

·      Mend

·      Silent

Winter

·      Die

·      Kill

·      Weep

·      Mourn

·      Hate

·      War

 

·      Our verse begins with, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”.   Let’s take a quick look at some of the hallmarks of each season.

 

Spring

o   Things are generally going well and there is a sense of optimism in the air.

Summer

o   Life is in full bloom and the days are long and bright.

Autumn

o   Perhaps coming off of a high with a feeling that things might be getting worse before they get better.

Winter

o   Bleak and dark.  Better times seem far away.

 

·      Which of the seasons are you currently in? 

·      Have you recently come out of another season?

·      As you have matured (either chronologically or spiritually), have you learned to embrace more of the seasons?

·      How does God use each of the seasons for our growing to be more Christ-like?

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