Seasons

Change is hard. We often like what change brings. We may even understand the need for change. I don’t honestly know many people who enjoy and delight in the process of change. At least not naturally.

Have you ever been the new guy at work? No one wants to be that guy looking like a dork because you don’t know anything. Have you had family move? THat’s not always fun. Players switch teams. New operating systems come out that break your device.

If you’ve been around long enough you start to understand that the only constant is change. Some of us may be quicker to adapt, but it’s still a process.

About 2000/2001 Dest and I got our Jesus car. 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. I know what you’re thinking. “How are you God’s favorite?!” Seriously though this was our Jesus car. It was everything we wanted and well within our price range. We loved that thing. Then 2024 happened. We started getting a check engine like. Found out the transmission was throwing a code. Basically it was when, not if, the transmission would break. We knew we had some time so we kept driving it. Then we found out it was leaking coolant from the engine block. I may not be a mechanic, but I do know that isn’t good. Long story short, we ended up with a 2016 Honda Pilot. We had always wanted a Pilot, so once again we saw God bless us. What does this have to do with change? This Pilot has more bells and whistles then I know what to do with. I love the vehicle, but adjust to new settings, how it drives, all the safety alarms. It’s still a process. I didn’t want to change vehicles. I like the new one. But the process between losing the old and adjusting to the new is very rough.

I realized there is a very popular portion of Scripture that discusses change. In fact, a group wrote it into a song in the 60’s.

Ecclesiastes 3:1–15 NLT

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

This really sums up the human condition doesn’t it? We’ve experienced the highest highs and the lowest of lows. Like they say, the only constant is change.

A lot of people consider this book to be kind depressing. I get that, but I have learned to see the beauty in this. A lot of wisdom.

I love that they Bible never shys away from the hard questions. “What do we really get for all the hard work we do? Does it even matter?”

The answer is yes, you have to look for it though. Let me use an example.

Someone, somewhere, at a point in human history, decided that they would kill that big thing that eats grass and burn it and eat it. That was a change from the way things had been done. Now, bless God, we have steak. At some point someone though a bean should be dried, ground up, and have hot water poured over it. “If it’s good enough for crushed leaves, it’s good enough from beans.” Now we have tea and coffee. These are gifts from God produced by some ones hard work. Now they and everyone else can enjoy those. They are gifts from God.

This is why, as followers of Christ, experiences should evoke wonder towards God.

When they unbeliever has a good meal or a good conversation, their happiness is terminated there. But as believers, our joy continues because we know that the God of creation gave us that as a gift. Unmerited. It all started with some one challenging the status quo. It is a result of change.

Here’s is what I have learned from this passage and I hope it helps you.

Embrace the season you are in.

I have a bad habit of nostalgia or longing. I want the good ole days and I want to new sparkling thing.

The night will not persist. Embrace where you are. Doesn’t mean you have to like it. Learn from it.

Be present

It’s ok to feel what you feel. God gave us our senses and emotions to helps us understand our surroundings.

If you are going through Hell, keep moving. Don’t build a summer home there.

Remember that everything isn’t about you.

Pain has the power to make our world very small. Do not allow the hard season make you turn inward and isolate.

The rain falls on the just and the unjust. You didn’t deserve the bad thing, you didn’t earn the good thing.

It is possible to learn from every change and season you go though. In fact, as followers of Christ, we should be the biggest promoters and catalysts for change. Our entire faith is built on the belief that God can and will change people. We are called to change.

Romans 12:2 NLT

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

We are in a constant state of change. It’s challenging and often frustrating. And it will not stop until Christ returns.

The only constant is change. The teacher said for everything there is a season. He also said that good food and good friends are to be enjoyed as a gift from God.

Here’s another question. Have you ever wanted to change, but felt like you were to too far gone? There is something inside you that is calling, pulling at you that you can’t contain. At the same time you feel unworthy or unwilling. That feeling is God telling you that He will take you into that new season and He will walk though it with you.