Seasons and Goals
How many of you have experienced different seasons in life? Seasons of busyness, seasons of plenty, seasons of difficulty, seasons of joy, and seasons of pain? Seasons and goal setting go hand in hand. If you do not know what season you are in, you may end up setting goals that are completely impractical.
Today we are going to look at what the bible says about seasons and think about what we can do to prepare ourselves for different seasons.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
A Time for Everything 3 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
I believe that we learn two main things from these verses:
1. There is a season for everything. We see it in life. I remember in our home life we have seasons. I remember when I and Ruth started married life, we did not have much money things were tight, we occasionally had to go to the bank of mum and dad, but that was a season. We are now OK financially, getting ready to be the bank of mum and dad. Perhaps you have caring responsibilities, for children or a relative and you feel that you cannot do all the things you would want to do. This is a season.
At work you may be in a season of busyness, a time where you need to work hard, and long hours, this hopefully is a season. Spiritually you can go through seasons, seasons where you feel close to God, and seasons where you feel distant from God. Perhaps you are at the start of your spiritual journey, perhaps you are further along, perhaps you a feeling passionate about Jesus or perhaps you feel flat or tired. And remember these seasons overlap with each other and influence how we deal with the different seasons in each area of life. Someone who perhaps has a young baby at home may not be able to give as much at work as they adjust to the new season at home. A new baby may also affect their spiritual life. It does not make it a bad season of life just different.
One of the keys for us is to realize the seasons we are in. More on this later.
The second thing we learn is there is a time for everything. There is a time for every season. The difficulty with the time of seasons is that we have very little idea how long that season will last. For example, if you have a young baby rest assured sleep will return! For some, their babies sleep through after a few weeks, for others, it can be a few months. We will experience different seasons; we will not go through life without experiencing different things.
On a national level, we all are experiencing this season, this time of COVID, but it will end. We are not sure when, but it will. Life will return to something like the way it was before. So, if there are seasons in life and a time for these seasons what should you do? I think we can answer this question in two distinct ways: Spiritually and Practically: Spiritually: Scripture reminds us that God will never leave us. We have just celebrated Christmas, one of the names of Jesus is Immanuel, meaning God with Us. Whatever the circumstances God is with us, Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 28:20 and Joshua 1:9 are just some examples of this. A good way to deal with seasons is to bring things to God,
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Whatever the season you are in and you do not have to be in season where you are anxious speak to God and He will bring peace to the situation, learning to live in that peace during a season is key. One final thought on Spiritually dealing with seasons and this involves asking yourself a question: How do I want to exit this season Spiritually? Are you close to God, far away from God, connected, or disconnected?
Practically: 1. Realise the season you are in. For some seasons that is easier to do than others, it is easier to know that the season you are in when you are bringing up kids will end, than perhaps when you are struggling financially but seasons change. If you are feeling overwhelmed reach out to a trusted friend, ask them to help you identify the season you are in. 2. Get help, maybe your finances are causing you a season of difficulty, reach out, get advice, and sort out a financial plan. Maybe the job you are doing is not what you really want to be doing, maybe you feel you are called to do something completely different, maybe to move into this new area you need to learn some new skills,
Proverbs 15:22
Plans fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.
If you would like help with either identifying the season you are in or help with getting through your current season, contact us here
