Tags
church, faith, God, grief, journey, joy, life, naming, prayer, scripture, season, stability, thanks
I have been working on some continuing education classes for about a year and a half. I just had a three week break and during that time was able to quickly read three fluffy novels. The funny thing is, during that same time, I kept watching friends talk about the most recent book they were reading and feeling jealous, thinking, “I never have time to read!” But I realized during this break between semesters that I will eventually have time and I do still love to read; this is just a season of life when my reading is a little limited to the academic variety.
That realization got me thinking about seasons of life. I remember a season with newborns when I did a ton of reading because I was hooked up to a breast pump for about 2 hours a day. I remember a season before COVID when I traveled distances for meetings and was able to catch up on podcasts and phone calls, feeling more knowledgeable and caught up on the day’s news. I remember multiple seasons of parenthood when I thought I would never survive something, only to look fondly upon that season later.
Our faith journey can be a lot like that too. We all have seasons – seasons when we feel a bit too busy for regular church attendance (thank goodness for those recorded livestreams!); seasons when everything is clicking and some piece of scripture we read totally connects with something happening in our life; and seasons when we are too angry, sad, or unsure to even engage God in prayer. The nice thing is when we can recognize that we are in a season, we can remember the hard stuff will not last forever, and good stuff will change and shift into new and different good stuff.
I do not know what kind of season you are in right now. Maybe you are in a season of grief, of feeling a lack of control, or in a rut of what feels like failures. Maybe you are in a season of new life, of exciting possibilities, of new opportunities. Maybe you are in a season of stability and are hoping nothing rocks the boat. I invite you to talk about that season with God. Whether you need to curse the season, give thanks for the season, or plead for a new season, somehow just naming the experience of the season is enough to lift its power and help you see grace in it. That is my prayer for you today.
Seeking and Serving 