What Season Of Life Are You In?

I must confess the last quarter of the year is my favorite.  Not only do we celebrate Christmas which I adore but also, during this time people decorate their homes for the different seasons and post videos on YouTube. I am enjoying watching such videos as I cook.

I am from  East Africa so all I am accustomed to is the wet and dry seasons. However, having lived in North Africa for six years, I was able to experience all four seasons in a year. Recently while reading my bible the scripture which says \”there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens…\”.  got me thinking how our lives also go through different seasons.

We are told that \” there is a time to be born and a time to die. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to be silent and a time to speak\”.  The list goes on and on. As I continued to read this long list, the lesson below stood out for me:

We should enjoy whatever season we are in and remember no season lasts forever.

My favorite season in those six years was spring. Perhaps because the weather at that time always reminded me of the weather back home. The summers were too hot and most of the time you had to stay indoors just to avoid the scorching sun when degrees tended towards 40 degrees Celsius or 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The winters were too cold. In fact, most people often remarked how it felt like the cold was biting into your bones. To me, spring meant wearing fewer layers and enjoying the outdoors more. The mistake one would have made was to spend time dreading the hot summers that were looming or lamenting about how cold the winter had been and miss out on what spring offered.

This is the same with our lives, how many times do we miss out on enjoying the season we are in because we are dreading what lies ahead or are still caught up in what we have been through. A clear example is when you get a baby, people may congratulate you but are quick to warn you about the sleepless nights ahead or the terrible two\’s. Similarly, as our children move into the double-digit years we begin to worry about what they will be like teenagers.  Alternatively, we may beat ourselves up for not having been good parents. In most cases, what all this does is steal the time we should enjoy being with our children and making memories together.

Like the scripture referred to above says, there is a time for everything. Maybe at the moment, you are in the winter season of your life where everything seems dark and cold. Sometimes it feels like there is no reason to go on with life. It helps to remember that \”weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning\”. Yours is to pray for God to shorten your nights or winter so that you are able to experience the mornings and spring.

Finally, 

It helps to always remember that nothing lasts forever. However much I loved spring, I knew I had to endure the cold winter before spring would arrive. In addition, spring had to end before giving birth to the dreaded summer. So it is with life, children we love and adore grow up to become adults and leave us as empty nesters. The career you once loved so much comes to an end and you have to begin a new phase in your life. Similarly, that nasty experience you may be going through now will one day be history and you will laugh again. The key is to keep in mind that nothing is permanent and then preserve through the tough times and enjoy the good times when they come.

I am curious to know, what season of life are you in and how do you manage to go through the tough seasons?