Seasons

There are flowers blooming beside my mailbox. I saw them the other day and I just smiled. Flowers? In February? Seasons are funny like that in the South. Often you can experience more than one in the same week, turning your thermostat from heating to air conditioning in the same day. I'll be honest, Winter is number 4 on my list of favorite seasons, so the sight of these early bloomers was exciting to me. I love watching the deadness and dreariness of Winter turn slowly into the life and vibrancy of Spring. The pop of color was a welcome sight...a reminder that God makes all things new in His time.

Like the ever-changing weather, our lives experience seasons too. There are seasons of joy or sorrow. Seasons of pain and seasons of healing. Sometimes we experience seasons with relationships or jobs, callings and activities. In truth, our lives are a series of seasons, ever-changing, ever-moving, ever-growing. And sometimes we welcome the change of season, grateful that we are moving from Winter to Spring. And other times, we don't want the season to end...clinging tightly to it. Hoping for one more day to bask in the sun before the chilly autumn breezes begin to blow.

However, just like the weather, we are not in control of these changes that occur. We can cling with all of our might to the Summer seasons, but they will inevitably change to the coolness of Fall. I'm personally not a fan of change. As a result, I often will stay in a season long after the Lord has prompted me to move on. Or at times, I will refuse to even hear His gentle leading because its not what I want to do. In those moments, the Lord in His grace and sovereignty has then forced me out of that season. And this has never been pleasant.

I find that when He has to forcibly pry my grip from something, usually the result is painful. Usually it hurts. Usually it stings. Although I am young (ish), I have lived long enough to know that when the Lord prunes something out of my life, however painful it might be at the time, it is because He is making room for me to grow. He is removing the dead things that will hold me back and inevitably choke the life out of me if they were to stay. I know this, but still it hurts.

And so, I trust Him. I trust Him through the pain. Through the changes that I so long to resist. Through the Winter seasons. I trust Him. Knowing that the Winter gives birth to Spring. That this season too will change. The He has something better and more beautiful in mind as He prunes my life, preparing me for the growth of Spring.

So today, I am thankful for the flowers. Thankful for the glimpse that sometimes Winter doesn't last as long as we think it will. Thankful for the glimpse of beauty and grace in God's sovereignty. For at just the right time, His right time, He makes all things new.