Something I have noticed in life: seasons come and seasons go.
In Erie, PA, we have distinct seasons. But what I find most interesting is how they seem to flow instead of being precise.
For someone like me who loves precision and logic and reason and exactness, the seasons we experience are a blessing because they remind me that nothing in life is that certain. Everything has degrees to it; things come and go; people come and go; and life goes on. Spring bleeds into summer and summer into fall, etc. There’s nothing perfect or precise or exact about it. And for me, I need to see that happen all around me.
I’ve noticed this year that we went from summer to fall in the space of a weekend. But then, we experienced a little taste of fall/spring again with warmer temperatures. And soon enough, we’ll have consistent cold which will lead to snow and chill. But then this will lead into the green and warmth of spring. And on, and on the cycles go.
I always chuckle: We have placed two major dates on the calendar and many have wrongly thought this is when the seasons are distinct. The equinoxes, vernal and autumnal, are merely markers about the equipoise of the earth’s relative position, but not a fixed reality of an exact moment when the seasons change.
Scripture reminds us of the bleeding and blending and tumbling of the seasons too.
In Ecclesiastes 3:1, the author says, “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” Both words (here translated as season and time) have a similar connotation: looseness and impreciseness of time. Neither one is specific about it’s fixing a definite time (like we’re used to with clocks and watches). Instead, they both give the impression of something that is a certainty but its exact moment isn’t fixed. The New Testament authors have a word for this too: Kairos. Kairos is not a word of precise timing but instead of seasonality and impreciseness.
The author of Ecclesiastes in verses 2-8 of chapter three remind us there is a time for things like mourning, laughing, dancing, doing justice, etc. But none of these times are precise. They happen when they’re ready and they all seem to tumble into one another.
In our own lives, we see this. We can remember times when we have started laughing through our tears or maybe we couldn’t get ourselves out of bed because of a dark night of the soul. Maybe our faith has gone through stages of change where somedays it is strong and others days not so much. However, as we look back, it’s hard to know exactly what the beginning or the end of that season looked like.
Our faith grows much like the seasons: when it’s ready. The first blooms of spring or the first snowfall don’t happen until they’re ready to do so. Conditions have to be right in the natural world for these phenomenon to occur and they similarly have to be right in our hearts and minds for things to occur for us.
This, I believe, is why Jesus uses so many farming metaphors in his parables and teachings. He is reminding the disciples and the broader crowd of listeners that growth in a farm field doesn’t happen until preparations have been made (tilling the soil, fertilizing, planting, watering, etc.) but the growth will only occur when it’s the right moment to do so. And often, that moment isn’t easy or even possible to nail down.
We could think of our hearts and minds as fields ready for God’s farming work. If we allow it, the Spirit will come and till and fertilize, and plant, and water and then when the season is right, will cause growth to occur.
The season of life that you are in, whatever that season, is always a good growing season for God. There is never a perfect time for God…every time is perfect. We may think we have to get ourselves perfect first before God can do any work in us. But that’s simply not the case. Instead, being open and ready and willing is always the perfect time.
When I look back over my own life of faith, I see the days when my fields lay fallow and without growth. But I can also see the seasons of abundance and plenty where God’s work has led to a great yield of faith, hope, and love.
There is a season for all of us and everything in that season is one of growth and life if we allow God to be the one who cares for us. Whatever season of life you are in right now is a perfect one for God to bring growth and joy.