The Gift of a Season

Thinking about the dance of the seasons and the gifted nature of the child of God I can’t help but notice that the seasons are, indeed, gifts as well.

The seasons of our lives, just as the seasons of the earth, are intended for a divine purpose. Our God, the God of Order has designed them to create a perfect balance that meets every need of the body and of the soul.

Each turn of the Earth brings about a change that in time evolves into an element of nature that provides a unique particle of life. Even winter has its purpose:

As the rain and the snow

come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater… (Isaiah 55: 10)

Therefore, the winter seasons of our lives have a purpose as well. I believe that journeying through a winter time has the purpose of refocusing. As it gathers us inside a shelter and shuts us out from the world outside, winter is destined to isolate us from the distractions when our hearts have wandered and we need to be redirected toward home. We hunker down and travel through the trial, but we also move closer to Him as we fix our eyes on the One who makes sense of it all.

That’s where and how we find the gift in the harshest of seasons…we find it when we realize that the snow that gently falls and piles up, keeping us trapped in our own deception in time becomes the much needed water that eventually makes our spirit resurface to a field filled with new blooms…the blooms of hope that will open up into the blossoms of trust:

But I trust in you, Lord;

I say, “You are my God.”

My times are in your hands… (Psalm 31: 14-15a)