Seasons - Lizzie Young

Finding peace, purpose and passion in every season that you are in!

There’s nothing worse than being unprepared for a season you find yourself in. We complain so much about how we have to adapt to each season (blankets and raincoats for winter, layers for autumn and spring, hats and sunscreen in the summer) yet how often do we actually appreciate the season for what it’s for?

Here is the good news; all seasons have an end… but seasons never end!

Within each season God has hidden Kingdom principles and truths to discover. Something of heaven is reflected, learned, experienced, revealed, in each season of our life. So I encourage you to recognise the seasons and its purpose, and how we need to respond to it. 

I know for sure that there is Kingdom truth and God-reality hidden in each season. Each season, if seen through the right perspective, will bring deeper encounters and intimacy with God. Therefore do not despise or despair about any season in your life, for there is revelation hidden in it, and I know from experience, that difficult seasons have great and powerful truths that bring maturity in your walk with God.

There is a season (a time appointed) for everything and a time for every delight and event or purpose under heaven - A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (AMP)

Everything has a season, every purpose has a time.

One thing I have always found about seasons is that they always feel they last longer than necessary, but there is time within each season in order for God to establish His purpose. We are graced with time within each season. There is a beautiful song called Seasons by Hillsong United that captures this concept within its lyrics: 

“Oh how nature acquaints us with the nature of patience”.

It’s so much better to be ready for a particular season than to have to experience it all over again, trying to learn the same lessons. I look at nature and see that we can learn from Gods creation… Plants just seem to know; birds, trees and animals all just know when winter is coming, so they get ready and for it when it comes. 

In my own life I have gone through the process and I have asked myself, how do we habituate and persevere through a particular season of life?

We prepare, and we embrace each season as it comes… Here are the four seasons broken down, and for the rest of this thought I’d love to unpack what I believe each one can teach us if we are listening...

SPRING IS The SEASON OF SOWING

Spring is the beautiful season full of new life and new growth. Most planting happens in spring, which starts with breaking up the soil, ready for the seeds to take root. 

As a family, we love spring because spring means babies! Super cute, super fluffy, but actually they are in the most vulnerable season of their lives. I believe spring is the season to guard our heart. As beautiful as the planting season is, there are predators ready to steal your promise. Make sure you are in an environment conducive to cultivating the promise, not exposing it to threats or predators. 

If you are in a season where dreams are being birthed, new relationships are starting to form, settling in as a new family, going on that new adventure - be sure to watch what is around you. Position yourself around positive people, plant yourself in healthy soil and let go of what is not for you. Maybe a seed has been planted within you or just maybe you are the seed. So, be conscious of the soil, aware of the voices around you and let go of the things you don’t need.

SUMMER IS the SEASON OF GROWING

Most growth happens within the season of summer, though it’s maybe the harshest climate. 

Everybody’s cool with the sowing, excited about the harvest, but no one enjoys the growing stage. Growing requires two things; time and tending, and guess what else happens in the summer, pruning, Yaaaay!

For trees to grow strong, the Farmer must prune. When I think about pruning, I think about discipleship. Discipleship is so powerful when you understand it’s truth and depth. 

A disciple is a follower, a learner, a listener, a servant, a witness. In cooking terms, a disciple is the sou chef, or in business the apprentice. And in life, everyone is a disciple, everyone is growing. My question to you is who is discipling you? 

If you find yourself in this season, I encourage you to embrace the training, embrace discipleship and know that the pruning produces maturity.

AUTUMN is the SEASON OF HARVEST

So, call me crazy, but I always thought a harvest would come before summer… Turns out I was wrong! Harvest happens right before the cold sets in. Makes more sense right? 

The harvest season is the one everyone loves, it's the season of promise! Literally! The fulfilment of all our enduring, embracing and hard work! But hey, guess what we get to do with the harvest? Go shopping? … Yes! 

NO!

In the season of harvest, we must steward well or the days of famine will come and we won’t be ready. A guy named Joseph readied a nation to be prepared for the famine because during the years of plenty he stored away what they would need to survive in the hard times! I encourage you to don’t just think of the harvest as just for now, it’s not even just for the next, it’s for the next generation.  So think about it, what legacy are you leaving behind in your times of harvest? 

I am a self-inflicted casualty of poor stewardship... You know those people who had money coming in but way more disappearing than sticking around? I had no concept of money stewardship, and not until years later we began to grasp the concept and wasted a bunch of time and have nothing to show but cool t-shirts and shoes. 

Trust God to gift you the things you want, while you steward what He’s entrusted you to manage, and set valuable resources aside for the generations to come. 

WINTER is the SEASON OF REST

Ah, beloved winter. The season of blankets and early nights... 

Most farmers rest in this season. In the cold, everything slows down, nature does things under the surface in winter that it cannot do in other seasons, nature resets itself. Depth is formed in winter.

Some might call this the waiting season. Waiting for what? Waiting for the train, or the microwave, a phone call, or a business deal to come through, or a house to sell - WAITING SUCKS. But I like to think of it as rest. Rest is more peaceful than waiting, just the word waiting is stressful to me. For some of you that are in, or have been through a winter season, maybe nothing has happened on the outside, but you’ve learned more about yourself in this season than any other. 

Rest is a season of self-reflection. Life seems to slow down but your brain is still on fast-track! The key in this season is to enjoy the rest and prepare for the promise. Just because you don’t know when the promise will coming to fulfilment, doesn’t mean you can’t get ready.

If you’re single - prepare to be a great wife. Spiritually, practically, financially, mentally. This is not the time to have as many relationships to figure yourself out! Figure yourself out with God and then the right partner will come, all in the right time. If you feel like you’ve done all the study you can? Relax, have a bubble bath, take a swim, prepare, enjoy the silence and the clarity…

I remember, I was going through a pretty intense season of waiting for something I didn’t know was ever coming, nor could I articulate what it was I was waiting for. I found myself chatting with some girls who were in the winter season, longing for husbands and to build a family, and there I was. I had the babies, I had a husband but still felt like there was more... I was confronted with a moment of; “is this is it for me? … And if it is, am I okay with that?” I had to get to a place where I was content in the season, for as long as it lasted - even if it lasted forever. 

There is a difference between content and comfortable. Being content is to know there’s something coming, but having joy to sustain the season you’re in. My season of waiting became a season of rest. It is the feeling and place of being sure that God was in control no matter what. 

There needs to come a moment when “For I know the plans I have for you…” is enough.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

So, there it is. The four seasons that perpetuate us through life and all seasons are to build eternity (a state to which time has no application, endless life after death) into the core of our being. All seasons help us experience eternity, even the difficult ones. 

Seasons are designed to strengthen your faith, not shake your faith. 

Regardless of what season you’re in, there’s a pull in the hearts of humanity for more. We will never truly be satisfied, no one ever feels like they’ve made it - there is always more. May I propose to you today that, the more is the core sense of eternity that has been placed in our hearts. If eternity has been tugging at your heart, now is the time to look to God, recognise that He is drawing you closer to Him. He has set Eternity in your hearts, to withstand (remain undamaged or persevere in the face of) the seasons, and to look to Him beyond it all. 

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

Written by Lizzie Young
Lizzie is married to Blake Young and mother to Keilani, Zion, Shiloh. She lives in Gaborone, Botswana and is on team at Kingdomcity.