To everything there is a season … a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to gain and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away; a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to keep silence and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time of war and a time of peace. (Eccl. 3:1-8).
At 54 years of age, I have gone through a few seasons in my life.
The season of youthful exuberance where dreams of the future dominated my thinking, believing anything was possible.
The season of wedded bliss, believing my wife and I would live an everlasting honeymoon of fun and adventure.
The season of child rearing where time passed so quickly and was so full of activity.
I am now in the season of middle age.
The children are grown and moving on into their own lives. The body doesn’t recover as quickly as it used to from whatever activity I’ve been involved in on any given day.
The dreams of my youth have come and gone and have been largely unfulfilled. I take greater pleasure in simpler things like a nicely manicured lawn and a vegetable garden.
The transitions of life can be tough and I am so thankful that I have confidence in the Lord to know He has given me a future and a hope in Him.
Life can be overwhelming at times.
Situations and people come into our lives that challenge us to our very core. We can struggle with so many things, health issues, personality conflicts, job loss, career changes, moves, our own sinful nature and on and on the list goes.
So, how do we deal with these seasons that come into our lives?
I’m no expert but I have discovered some principles that can make these transitions a little more palatable.
Here are three things you should do when seasons change in your life.
1. Stay in the Word daily, without fail.
I wish I could say I have done this my whole Christian walk.
There have been seasons where I have walked away from daily reading of God’s Word and tried to figure life out on my own.
Those times are now times forever lost when I could have been growing in my walk with the Lord. God’s Word is the very handbook of wisdom for life. We ignore it at our own peril.
We have a very real enemy of our souls who does not fight fair. He hates God’s Word and will do everything he can to distract us from reading and meditating upon it. It is our source for hope and comfort in a world that is going crazier by the minute.
I was challenged a while back to be faithful in my daily reading and meditating of the Bible and I have found that it has made a huge difference in my outlook on life and my ability to take on whatever the day may throw at me.
