To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven […] He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 11, NKJV
Have you ever stopped to ponder the wonder and beauty of the seasons of nature? Trees, plants, animals, the ground, the water, and the sky…all work together wordlessly in a perfect balance of growing, living, and dying. It’s easy to take for granted that each day will turn into the next, winter will end and the sun re-emerges, new plants and animals will be born and continue on, year after year…and yet God, in his omnipotence, has carefully ordered each tiny cog in this wondrous clock. It is breath-taking when you stop to really think about it.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalms 19:1-4, NIV
I have often thought that perhaps one of the reasons why God created the seasons in the way He did, full of beauty, is to catch our attention and remind us that in the same way, He has ordained the seasons of our lives. After all, if He cares for the sparrows and the lilies of the field, how much more does He care for us?
There is a time for everything and a purpose. That includes the good, the bad, the moving, and the waiting. If you are in a busy, stressful, hectic, or even heartbreaking season, look to nature for a reminder. This too, shall pass. A new season is coming.
When we step back and look over the past, we can see the beginnings and endings. We remember that the thing in the past that felt never-ending…eventually ended.
So whether it’s a personal or professional challenge you’re currently facing (or both), take a breath and know that even now, you’re closer to it ending than you were even just yesterday. And every single cog in the clockwork of your life…He’s got that in His hands, too.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the way You have ordered everything in existence into a perfect balance. Thank you for the way You take care of me and balance out my life, even when I can’t see it. Thank you for the work You are doing now in my life, in the unseen places. Thank you for the fruit that the future will bear. May my words and actions be ever pleasing in Your sight, Lord. Amen.
Copyright Rhapsody Jordan-Parisi.
Rhapsody is a member and high school English teacher from North Carolina. She is passionate about helping struggling teachers strike a balance between success and sanity at her blog, tightropeteaching.com.
2 Responses
Beautiful!! I love your writing & I checked out your Tight Rope Teaching blog….very cool!! Have a great day! 🙂
This was exactly what I needed today. I’m in a place where I’m trying to make some major decisions about whether or not its time to end my career of nearly 30 years as an SLP. I could go one more year and have a complete retirement but I’m having several health complications and issues related to extended type I diabetes. God has seen me through much and provided me with just the right doctors when I needed them. Recently, as I prayed with my church for strength and help to make it through this year and next, I also prayed that if there was a way for me to end my work earlier that God would show me and provide a way. Not long after that, I began having other issues involving my hands. It seemed that things were just getting harder and harder to work. But I found an answer that it seemed God provided, I have the option of doing medical leave of absence and taking a medical disability retirement and because I’m so close to the full retirement years the difference in amount is not that much. But it seems that I keep questioning whether or not this is the right thing to do. Each time I convince myself that I can try to do at least part of next year, something happens to off-set my anxiety again. Then I read something like this passage this morning and it seems that God is telling me that it time for a new chapter. I don’t know what than may be or how it may come about but as a song I often sing: He already knows! Thank you for sharing these much needed words.