A Season for Everything
By Brita Crouse
“For everything there
is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”
I have come into the pastime of drying flowers. Unintentionally,
I started a collection of flowers many years ago, and this accumulation now
sits on my dresser. I was recently looking at these flowers, determining which
ones to keep and which ones to toss. It’s so hard because each of these flowers
serves as a reminder of a season in my life.
Corsages from high school dances, chosen just for me, take me
back to more carefree days. Bouquets of
unique and vibrant flowers from my best friends’ weddings…fill me with memories
of love, happiness and the start of something new. The deep, dark red of a
carnation from a funeral spray reminds me of pain and suffering endured…and the
sudden abruptness of life. My favorite color of roses, from one of my happiest
days, convey the excitement of a new beginning and the achievement of a
lifelong dream.
We all, individually and collectively, go through many seasons
during a lifetime.
Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 says there is “a
time to…”
…be born and a time to die.
…plant and a time to harvest.
…kill and a time to heal.
…tear down and a time to build up.
…cry and a time to laugh.
…grieve and a time to dance.
…scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
…embrace and a time to turn away.
…search and a time to quit searching.
…keep and a time to throw away.
…tear and a time to mend.
…to be quiet and a time to speak.
…love and a time to hate.
And a time for war and a time for peace.
There is purpose and meaning behind each of life’s seasons,
determined by the One who makes the seasons change. In a world of changes, He
is the True Constant. And as Ecclesiastes demonstrates, the highs in life
cannot be experienced without the lows.
“Yet 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.” [1]
We may not always have an immediate understanding of the work
that God is doing in our lives…but there is purpose, and there is meaning.
Those dried flowers that I see on a daily basis? A reminder that
God is constant through it all.
GOING DEEPER:
1.
What season of life are you currently in? How can you encourage
those in similar seasons?
2.
How can you walk alongside those in seasons you have already
experienced?
FURTHER READING:
Brita recently moved back to her home state of Wisconsin where
she works as an Elementary School Counselor. She and her family have attended
Oakwood for 20 years.
