Sept 11th, 2020: Change of Seasons

 Times and Seasons - by Melody Maybry — Stories From the Colony


We are about entering the Fall season in Calgary. The trees and other vegetations begin to show signs of that. I like the change between seasons. It signifies a transition between the end of one and the beginning of another. Talking to my father last week reminds me of that. Our family is preparing for the final chapter of one generation and for the next generation to anchor the family history and legacy.

Last week a mother was talking to me about her kids. She was lamenting about how fast the time has gone by, and how quickly the children have grown up. She was struggling with the change of her identity because the kids don't need her all much. They start spreading their wings and forming their own identities as adults. There is always more than one way of looking at these events in our lives. We can be thankful for the fact that our kids are becoming men and women on their own right, or we feel unsettled that they are going on their own and might not see things the same way we do. Different seasons of life bring a spectrum of joy and a prism of sorrow.

We also encounter different seasons in our spiritual journey with God. Sometimes we experience tremendous growth that challenges us in the deep core of being. Sometimes we find ourselves in a spiritual desert and encounter the dryness of our soul. Sometimes we can see so clearly what God is doing in our lives and in the lives of others. Sometimes we cannot feel anything at all, and it appears as if we are all alone to fend for ourselves. We remember thankfulness while experiencing lamentation. We cry in our anguish while knowing that we can also sing for deliverance.

Different seasons reveal the diversity of God's beauty and faithfulness. I am in a season when my joy of knowing God is not simple. I can feel God's presence in the midst of being overwhelmed by the display of human hatred. My heart can grieve for the loss of innocence as I witness the gain of superficiality in human endeavors. I don't seek understanding because I am afraid of getting confused between knowing God and knowing myself in the world. My relationship with God is an ongoing change between seasons. Yet, somehow I am comforted by thoughts that God doesn't mind that too much.

Daniel 2: 22
"He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding."



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