Have things around you been changing lately? Or maybe you are in a season where you desire change, but things remain stagnant? How about the condition of your heart? What season of change is going on inside you as at the moment? Someone once said to me; “Being alive is a process of change. If you are not changing – you must be dead!”
This week, as we look at the topic of seasons in Heartbreakingly Beautiful, I am watching a change of seasons in the physical world around me. This morning, through the wide kitchen window, I witnessed a huge gust of wind blow an explosion of thousands of multi-colored leaves across the lawn. It was spectacular! ‘Fall’ in the Northern Hemisphere has been ushered in and in a few weeks, the trees will be bare again. Yes, things are changing… yet again!
Seasons that bring forth growth and change are part of the natural order of creation, as we know it. From the warm breezes of summer to the cool winds of autumn; from the numbing blasts of winter to the promising showers of spring, seasons are part of a cycle that has been set in motion and is out of our control. But if this process is so natural and a necessary part of our world, why then can it be so hard for us when we feel stuck in a season or are struggling to transition through seasons of change?
I think there are several reasons for this and many people have written truckloads of books about the lessons we can learn from the seasons. The themes of seasons and change are common language amongst those who are grieving. I really can’t add anything new but can only share how God is changing us as we live through each season He has created and ordained.
Friends, I know deep within my soul that each season yields its blessings and I don’t want to miss out on a single lesson that this season can bring! One of the greatest lessons the Lord is teaching me at the moment is that even though life around us may be changing, with or without our consent, God wants to use this change to change us! Yes, circumstances may be swirling around like those autumn leaves. But it does not have to be in vain for God has some work to do deep inside in our lives in this current season. His desire for US is to BE Changing!
Last month I met a remarkable mother who is also learning these same lessons. She told me that she has learned more in the winter season than in any other season of her life. God is continuing to do remarkable things within her life, changing her to be more like Him in the midst of uncertainty and pain. This dear pastor’s wife knows what suffering us. She has an unresolved kind of grief. She and her husband live with a situation they simply cannot change. They are ‘stuck’ in a season, so to speak, after their eighteen-year-old son simply disappeared without a trace fifteen years ago.
As impossible as it seems, both she and her husband are bringing blessing to many around them. They are nestling close to the unchangeable One and worshipping Him. Their countenance alone tells of the reality of their faith – their transformation to His likeness through the pain shouts to the world that God is in control and they are trusting in His love. She gently told me that for her, she feels that the winter season will never fully end until she sees Jesus face to face and I wholeheartedly agreed with her. Yet she went on to say that her intimacy with Jesus has greatly increased through this season – a reflection of my testimony too.
I have learned from this dear couple that even through the very worst of seasons, we can worship and know God more intimately as we wait for the fullness of change to come about. Friends, we can BE Changing from glory to glory throughout ALL seasons of life as we entrust our lives to Jesus, the Creator and Constant Controller of the seasons. I suspect the Father’s desire to change us is the very purpose He allows the seasons. He loves His Son and desires countless more children like Him. He loves us too – just as we are – but way too much to leave us the way we are! All thanks to our Lord Jesus who willingly endured every kind of season on our behalf so that we could be ever changing and become like Him in a perpetual season of glory!
“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image”. 2 Cor 3:18
Some quotes from songs to encourage you:
“I’m not letting go of this hope I have that tells me that spring is coming! All we’ve been hoping and longing for soon will appear! It won’t be long now – it’s just about here!” From Spring is Coming by Steven Curtis Chapman
“We need not be afraid to let the seasons change.” From Powerlines by Ann-Maree Keef
“Little by little every day. Little by little in every way, Jesus is changing me. Since I made that turn about face, I’ve been growing in His grace. Yes, Jesus is changing me. He is changing me, my blessed Saviour. I’m not the same person as I used to be. It’s been slow growing, but there is a knowing that one day perfect I shall be!” (Sunday School Song J)