“Summer and winter, springtime and harvest”
That’s a line from one of my favorite hymns — Great is Thy Faithfulness — that grows sweeter and sweeter to me the more of those cycles I live through. March is my birthday month, so in just over a week I’ll be celebrating the completion of my 55th trip around the sun, which means 2 things: I’m as old as my parents were when I thought that they were ancient, and I’ve seen that line from the hymn play out 55 times.
There are seasons of sowing and seasons of reaping. Seasons of growth and seasons of, well, death. Some seasons naturally fill us with the hope of new beginnings and other seasons are more naturally given to staying inside with a fire, a big blanket, and a book. It’s taken me the majority of my trips around the sun to finally begin to appreciate the seasons for what they are and for how they play out in each of our lives.
I’ve heard people describe our lifetimes by the seasons, and I guess there’s some truth in that. When we’re young, it’s the spring of our lives and as we age we creep closer to the winter years. Again, I see the truth in it, but I’m beginning to see how each of these seasons pop up over and over again during a lifetime. Not only that, but they don’t always happen in that perfect, linear order that we see on the calendar.
A child is born, and it’s spring, but that same child dies unexpectedly shortly after his birth, and suddenly, it’s winter. The change of seasons can be a whirlwind that leaves us spinning wildly and trying to find our footing.
And through all of it, God is faithful. He never changes Who He is for us or What He gives to us. His presence and His provision are rock solid and steady. We sense His celebration in the spring and His comfort in the winter. He is a cloud by day shading us from the hot summer sun and a fire by night when we begin to feel the first hint of the autumn chill.
We spin, but He doesn’t. He is faithful even when we go through seasons when we aren’t because that’s Who He is.
Toward the end of his life, a seasoned Paul writes to a young Timothy. It’s the last letter that we have of Paul’s, and it’s full of the kind of wisdom parents would give to their kids when they know their time on earth is nearing an end. The advice he gives is something that someone in the winter of his life would say to someone still enjoying the vibrant colors of spring.
“If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.”
2 Timothy 2:13 NLT
If I could paraphrase, Paul is looking back over a lifetime of seasons — summer and winter, springtime and harvest — and telling Timothy, “You probably won’t understand this yet, but take it from someone who knows and who has lived it: you can trust your life to the One Who never changes. In the years to come, you may be surprised by how quickly you let Him down in some seasons, but you’ll be more surprised by how quickly He picks you up. It’s just Who He is! The same God Who has been true to His promises in my life will be true in yours.”
No matter what season you find yourself in as you read this, He’s still keeping His promises. His faithfulness is great because He is faithful. It’s just Who He is.
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