Seasons

Here in Minnesota we get to see the seasons in full form.  Well, with any luck, we get to see all four seasons, anyway, although sometimes spring seems to get short shrift.  Each season has its delights.  (Okay, yes, even winter, I guess.  Snow falling on Christmas Eve has its moments.)

This morning I am thinking about the seasons with regard to transformative faith, which is still on my mind.  It feels like most people approach the Ecclesiastes 3 verses with the idea that they are about letting go and moving on from.  But if you continue reading, Ecclesiastes 3:14 says this:

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.

So how does this fit the idea of transformative faith?  Doesn't transforming mean you change and leave the old you behind?

As I thought about this, I was looking at the snow outside and saw a bare area where the grass was peeping through.  The dead of winter still holds both the past summer and the promise of spring, all at the same time.  The snowy yard with patches of dead grass will soon be transformed into the carpet of green grass, which will once again be covered by snow next winter.  And even after I am not here any more, the same cycle will continue.  That transformation will occur whether I'm here to witness it or not.  It will endure, because that is the way of nature.

My faith is the same.  Even when I am in the winter seasons of my faith life, when things are hard, when times are tough, there is always both the memory and the promise of something else, because that is the way of life.  And when faith is easy, life is going well and things are good, I should enjoy and savor, because that will help sustain me through the hardship that will come.  The seasons of life are inevitable.  It is part of being human.  It is relentless.  The thing to remind myself of, even in the hard seasons, is that God has always been there, with me, through it all, and that he will endure and nothing can take away from him.

Pertinently, the hard seasons have often come because of my own poor choices, things I regret or should have done differently.  We may think death or illness are the hardest seasons of life, but I think, if I dig deep and am honest with myself, the regrets of life are actually the hardest seasons of all.  And if you read the early verses in Ecclesiastes 3, that is largely what is being addressed here.  Most of it is talking about life choices that have gone wrong, things that we wish we had done differently to have better outcomes.  And usually it involves straying from living the way Jesus commanded.  I strayed from The Way of God and the price was high.  The transformation required was in my heart and soul to get back on the right path again.

Just like the seasons, transformation is not a one time occurance, it is a continuous thing.  As we are in each season and new challenges arise, we must transform our faith to meet the new day.  Perhaps we should see transformation as a daily requirement, like a daily vitamin.  We are in contant need of supplementation!

Wishing you a summer faith day, even if its winter where you are today!