Seasons

Last updated on: June 22, 2015 at 8:56 am by Steve Austin

Seasons 2015-06-22T08:56:01-05:00 Steve Austin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m learning that life is truly all about seasons.

I remember being a kid in the Assemblies of God church and hearing our minister of music talk candidly about going through a “dry spell” and I didn’t quite understand it at the time (I was 12 or 13). Oh, how things have changed in twenty years!

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

whatever they do prospers.

I was listening to the ever-brilliant, ever-enlightening Tim Keller yesterday morning as he explained Psalm 1 in a way that I’ve never heard and it opened my eyes a bit more to this concept of “seasons” in our lives. He talked about how, if we are that “tree planted by streams of living water, which bears it fruit in season” that we should give ourselves a bit of a break, realizing that we will bear our fruit, in the proper season. I never thought about this verse in the right way until now! I always read it quickly (even though it is my favorite Psalm) and assumed that it meant that if we are planted by the streams of living water that we would always be bearing fruit.

WRONG.

I’m at a place now where I am more ready than ever to speak candidly about the seasons of my life. What if we did that? What if, instead of trying to appear to always be producing fruit, instead we used each season of our lives to grow and to help others? We don’t walk through an apple orchard in the off-season and curse the trees for not having fruit, so why do we curse ourselves and others during an off-season?

My last piece of new content on this blog was nearly a year ago and one statement that I made at that time was:

God is far more concerned with a sincere heart than a spectacular ministry.

I’d like to take that a step further by saying that there is nothing God is more concerned with than a sincere heart. The message that is constantly at the front of my mind at the present time is this: YOU ARE A HUMAN. STOP TRYING TO BE GOD. For years, I made perfection my goal. Newsflash: perfection is not the goal, this side of Heaven. What if, instead of trying to be perfect, we simply embraced the fact that we are imperfect beings, living in broken bodies, in a broken world, and that the ONLY Good and Perfect One is God? What if we embraced His perfection in the midst of our imperfection? What if we accepted the fact that we are human stopped trying to be perfect? We are flawed, full of blemishes and will continue to make mistakes on a regular basis…

But God…

But God is perfect and in His perfection, He has provided a scapegoat in Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5, Psalm 18:30). In His holiness, God cares enough about us to love us unconditionally. As the only Good and Perfect One, He has made a way for the imperfect to have a relationship with perfection (Romans 5:8). During every season of my life, I pray that I will continue to view my humanity through the lens of God’s divine nature and His perfect love for me (Ephesians 2:8). I’m thankful that He is perfect in every area: in His patience, His love, His grace, and His redemption.

No matter the season, daily, I am compelled by His grace.

Religion and Spirituality

seasons

Previous Post

July 24, 2014

The Message is in the Manure

Next Post

June 25, 2015 Bandaids and Baby Skin

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Anxiety Best of Messy Grace Current Events Depression Faith Family Featured Fiction lgbtq Marriage Mental Health Messy Grace Millennials Parenting Recovery Recovery from a Suicide Attempt Recovery from Abuse Recovery from Porn Addiction Religious Recovery Self Care The Struggle With Church This is My Story (series) Uncategorized Writing Help

Select a Month January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 June 2015 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 June 2013 April 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 September 2011 August 2011 May 2011 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John The Spirit An angel Jesus (to the church in Ephesus)