Hard Seasons

With spring right around the corner, I am getting so giddy! I keep whispering to Isla, “It’s the month of rebirth!” On my walks, I peer at the branches, my heart hopeful as I search for beautiful new buds appearing. Spring is coming soon and with it the promise of longer days, more sunlight, warmer weather, green grass and fragrant flowers. But I haven’t been thinking of only spring lately, I’ve been contemplating all the different seasons that fill life. My little sister sent me an excerpt from a book she was reading. In it the author says this,

“The notion that our lives are like the eternal cycle of the seasons does not deny the struggle or the joy, the loss or the gain, the darkness or the light, but encourages us to embrace it all – and to find in all of it opportunities for growth” (Parker Palmer).

Oh! So true - every season holds great wealth for us, with versatile but vital lessons around each corner. I think of the harder seasons in our lives, which play a very valuable role in shaping us into who God desires us to be. I try to thank God, (whenever I remember) for not working in my life the way I want Him to, but for doing the opposite of what I want so desperately. In the moment, yes, of course I am upset. I often can’t comprehend that He is giving me something that is way better (in the grand scheme of things)! But I only need wait till the fuller picture is revealed, then it all comes to light. The millions of ways God was working faithfully behind the scenes. In light of adversity and trials, nature provides us a beautiful picture of how suffering can actually produce beauty. 

“Many trees produce cones that seal themselves shut with resin that melts only with the heat of fire. These cones await a forest fire. The burn produces an ashen layer on a forest floor, providing an ideal layer of nutrition for new seedlings to grow. For the forest, what appears to be devastation is often a rebirth. And just as the heat from a fire causes a cone to open and release its seeds, God allows the pressure and discomfort of our trials to serve as a catalyst for new growth” (Ruth Chou Simons).

I believe that God chooses to lead us down paths where we can’t see but a footstep in front of us, only so that we will have to lean on Him completely for the strength we need. Why else do you think the very well-known verse says, “God’s Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). It doesn’t say God will lead the way with a ginormous flood light, for a very good reason. God doesn’t work that way. He conceals many things from His children, taking us only one step at a time. And it’s always for His glorious purposes and for our good. Isaiah shows us God’s way,

“And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground” (Isaiah 42:16).

See, God specifically takes us down paths that are unknown to us, places where we have no choice but to depend on Him for direction. You see friend, without trials, we would still be hopelessly leaning on our own understanding. But with struggles, we can run to a God who has endless strength and wisdom. It’s a choice we make, either we can stumble alone down the rocky path with our eyes blindfolded. Or we can hold out our shaking hand and allow the Lord to grab hold of it to lead the way for us.

As a child, I remember loving this one game. All we needed was a blindfold, and two people. One would lead, and the other would follow, with a blindfold fastened around their eyes. We would play this game for hours on end, leading each other around in a blind stupor. One time this ended very badly for me. Usually I could vaguely make out where I was, even when blindfolded, but this time I was lost. And amid sudden chaos, my friend’s hand was ripped from my grasp. I heard a loud ferocious bark coming from behind me! And instead of taking my blindfold off, I stumbled forward in great fear, plunging off the side of an embankment, and crashing down to the ground. The gravel beneath my palms and knees stung my cut skin, and only then did I yank the blindfold from my eyes, the bright light blinding me!

That is now only a horrible memory from my childhood, but it can serve as a good example of the choices set before us. We can either decide to run our own way (with our blindfolds still on, mind you) or continue to follow God’s leading with our hand secured in the hand of our Master. The first way will eventually lead to perilous dangers, but the second way, although it proves gravely difficult at first, will lead us out to broad places, where we can run and leap and dance.

Today, whether it be winter, spring, summer, or fall - let’s choose to draw near to God, to trust that He is in control of the changing seasons in our lives.