How to Understand Your Season

Harvest of Pink Courtesy of Carol Rohrig

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Do you know what season of life you are in– with your career, ministry, marriage, friendships, etc.?

Are you in the spring, preparing the soil and planting seeds with an expectant heart and a burning vision?  Are you in the summer months doing hard work– watering, fertilizing, pruning, protecting your “crop” from the heat, bugs, and other predators?  Is it the fall, when your arms and heart are full with the rewards of your labor?  Or is it winter, when the cycle is finished and it’s time to let go, to release, and to say goodbye?

It is incredibly helpful to understand what season we are in because our activities are so specific to each one.  We cannot grow impatient and expect a harvest soon after planting, or underestimate the perseverance needed for long summer seasons of slow growth and relentless obstacles. Neither must we rest on our laurels, or forget to share and reinvest after the harvest, nor cling to a dream that clearly has lived out its cycle and must be released.

Understanding the seasons helps us plan wisely, harness our resources, manage our expectations, and protect us from discouragement.  Many dreams fail because we do not count the cost or we give up just before a breakthrough.

Wherever you are right now, may your roots sink deep into the Word of God for vision, instruction and strength whether for planting, nurturing, harvesting, or releasing.  Our human strength will fail, but with God as our source, success is assured!

He who delights in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither–
whatever he does, prospers. (Psalm 1:3)