For Every Season...

For the past four years, I have served on the Logan City Planning Commission; my term ends this month. It has been a privilege to serve the city and its residents in this capacity. As Ecclesiastes reminds us, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). In life, work, and especially in politics, it is important to recognize when to end one season and begin another.

I had accepted the appointment, knowing that in retirement, we were likely to end our season in Logan. Seasons vary in length. Whereas my season on the Logan City Planning Commission was four years, our time in Logan has lasted more than four decades. The end of one season means that, ready or not, a new one is coming.

If given the opportunity to speak with you, I would encourage you to embrace your current season of life with full abandonment. This season for you might be going to school or working at a job; it might be caring for a house full of children or an empty nest. Regardless of the season you find yourself in, you are to enjoy it to the fullest – especially in the hard seasons.

Ecclesiastes tells us that the seasons include “A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Wherever you find yourself right now, one of these extremes likely applies. While it is easy to navigate life in the seasons of laughter and dance, it is often more challenging in the seasons of uncertainty that come with grief and tears. 

And yet, even here, we can live with hope and expectation, for Ecclesiastes goes on to observe, “God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end” (3:11). In other words, not having God’s eternal perspective, we must trust that He has “made everything beautiful in its time.”

While the seasons of this life will ebb and flow, and one may spill into the next, we are wise to embrace them without looking back. Indeed, in seasons of loss, we will experience grief and pain, but we cannot remain here, for God has promised to be with us from one season to the next.

I cannot promise that your next season will be free of hardship or pain, but I do know we would be wise to trust in God’s wisdom and ways rather than our own. Isaiah bears clear witness to this, declaring, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:6–9)

Seek the LORD. We are to be mindful of the Lord’s goodness in both good times and bad. For he is faithful to us in both. We enter a new season with hopeful anticipation of what lies ahead. We take a new job, anticipating a better future. We move, believing a new home will better meet our needs. We can do this with greater assurance when we do so in prayer and anticipation.

Often, seasons have a defined start and end – like my appointment to the Planning Commission, while others are open-ended. If we anticipate that every season ends, we will be better prepared when that time comes. We would think a graduate foolish if they did not consider their future after school. However, when an unexpected illness strikes, there’s no way to anticipate the season that is coming. 

And yet, our hope in the Lord can remain sure. Amid the changing seasons of our lives, we can remember that one thing never changes — Jesus Christ! He was, is, and will forever be exactly who He is! That’s why Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Trusting in this enables us to embrace the season we are in and the unknown season ahead. Understanding this helps us "Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing" (Psalm 100:2).