Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Seasons Change For Better and Worse

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: - Ecclesiastes 3:1

Some seasons of life just don’t go as we planned. Maybe something unexpected happens. Maybe something we expected to enjoy turns into something we dislike. Maybe something or someone we loved ends or goes away and we find ourselves wondering where to go from here.

Each of us journeys through different seasons of our lives. Sometimes it isn’t so much what happens around us that shapes our lives as it is what happens within us as we cope with change.

One woman I knew longed for a baby. She and her husband were blessed not only with a healthy child but with being financially able for her to stay how with her child. She looked forward to days of bliss as she cared for her baby.

Until she was faced with endless days of -- in her mind -- nothingness. She loved her baby but she missed the stimulation that comes from being around adults and talking about things not related to babies. She missed the variety of a life that includes other things. So much to her surprise, she went back to work.

Critics were everywhere. Some working mothers couldn’t believe that someone who actually had a choice would choose work over staying at home. Others couldn’t understand how a mother would “abandon” her baby to daycare if she didn’t absolutely have to do so. Some went so far as to question her faith, as if God was telling her to stay home and Satan was telling her to go to work.

I won’t comment on her decision other than to ask a question: was her baby better off with a happy mother who delighted in time with her child or with a mother who was unhappy and resented the changes her baby had brought to her life? Decisions aren’t always easy and what God calls one person to do isn’t necessarily what He tells someone else to do.

Other changes aren’t choices. Some seasons are brought by nightmares, like the death of a child or spouse, like sudden unemployment or illness. We wake up one day only to find our entire life has shifted. We had no say in it but now we’re left to weather the storm’s aftermath. We will either grow closer to God, depending on His strength to carry us, or we will get caught up in anger and blame and never move past this season.

The ebb and flow of life is rarely easy. Few people are always content, always happy, always satisfied with just where they are. Sometimes we revel in quiet solitude and days spent growing closer to God. And sometimes we struggle to hear His voice, to see His wisdom, to feel His Presence and goodness in lives gone bad.

But He is always there. Always faithful. Always available to help us and guide us and lead us on to another season of our lives. God is good but He never promised an easy journey. In fact, the Bible tells us again and again of hardship and trial. What God did promise is to be with us on this journey, no matter what happens. That is a promise we can cling to, no matter the season of our lives.