Seasons 

By Robin Calcutt:

‘And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.’ (Genesis 1:14)

Lizzie and I went for a drive around Surrey at the weekend and so enjoyed seeing the trees changing colour. Such variety and beauty, and extravagance of colour. I love the autumn more than any other season – partly because it is cooler, partly because I love the colour, the country walks, the carpet and crunch of fallen leaves under the feet. I have been walking in Surrey since I was a child and I never get tired of visiting my favourite ‘places’ of which there are many!

Isn’t it wonderful how God ordered seasons? Now I know seasons vary around the globe, but call me biased, I am quite glad we actually do get four different seasons in the UK. Yes, I know they seem to get muddled, not least because of climate change in recent times, but we still recognise summer from winter, springtime from autumn.

We have seasons in our lives too. We are born and go through childhood. We go through those awkward teenage years, then young adulthood. Later we become more experienced, possibly, hopefully, wiser? Finally, we enter the later years where we can hopefully pass on our experiences to others, whilst still remaining useful. Unlike the natural seasons God created, the seasons of our lives do not repeat, much as I’d like to be younger again, or actually, would I?

Even more important than that, we have spiritual seasons. Sometimes those seasons are long, sometimes they are quite short. God moves us on to new seasons of our spiritual lives, or at least he wants to. Sometimes we resist and want things to stay the same and go on forever.

I suppose a personal testimony might help. I was a youth leader in various guises for 35 years, but those days have now passed. I was involved in Urban Saints, especially an annual camp with local groups, for 22 years. Some die-hard leaders wanted it to go on forever, but it was clear to me it should come to a natural end. Dwindling support was a sign for us to move on.

I pastored the church I grew up in, filling a gap initially, but stayed 12 years. A longer season than expected by far. Again, God moved me on. It was a drawn-out process but looking back, I know it was right to finally leave the church. I had done all I could. Just before I left the church, and later joined The King’s Church, I received a definite calling to reach out to the homeless and disadvantaged. Now I work for Hope Into Action and CAP. I also spent a short ‘season’ with London City Mission and their homeless projects. It is a very different season now to either pastoring or youth leading, yet lessons learned in those seasons are never wasted!

So, the point is this. If God has designed seasons for us and planned for us to move on at various points, why do we sometimes struggle to do that? We can so often become too comfortable or familiar with the season we are in that it can dull our sensitivity to hearing when He calls us to move on. On the other hand, we can also be too quick to want to ‘escape’ when the season we are in gets a bit harder or challenging! It is a question of constantly walking close to Jesus, listening for His instruction and encouragement, and walking in prompt obedience. He knows us through and through, so let us listen to Him and not rely on our own unreliable feelings or desires. We serve Him and others first before ourselves.

Let us not be afraid to accept new seasons that God brings into our lives. After all, if we believe He really knows best (He does!), then we should trust Him, even when moving on is hard and others may not understand. We should always check out our ‘moving on’ in prayer, taking our time as needed, and with a trusted friend or two, preferably outside the present season situation.

Let us equally not be afraid to stick with the season we are currently in and not be anxious to move on by our own initiative. That can be disastrous! There is a time to stick and a time to go and we need to learn to recognise both! The key as always is to stay close to Jesus!

‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’
(Philippians 4:4-7)

… a good test of whether we are in the right season is knowing, once we have laid it all out before Him, we have found His peace in making the right decision.

Have a blessed, fruitful week, walking with Jesus!