Seasons Are Not Secret

Seasons are the sum of moments. But to embrace and experience a season is a whole different ball game than living a moment—plain and simple, seasons are longer. Good seasons are the best-ever times of life. Day after day you get a front seat to great things happening in your life. So many things you prayed for come to be. Joy and contentment are at your fingertips. A good season is like summertime: everything is bright, in full-bloom, and flourishing.

Then there is that less-than-good season, like fall. Things that were so vibrant and healthy have run their course and started to wither. It’s a season of life when things are okay, but you feel like you are on a downward slope. And then there are times of life when it feels like the dead of winter—no life, no color. Everything seems to have died. The landscape of life is frozen and desolate. It seems like nothing good will ever happen again.

And just when you think you can’t take it anymore, a new season emerges and something new pops up out of nowhere. A tree twig births a bud. A blade of grass pops through the dirt. A butterfly wing begins to form. You have hope again: God is going to do something new. The fact is, it takes all of these seasons and the time in between to appreciate each one. Embracing and experiencing one season makes all the difference in the next. We will have a deeper understanding of life as well as open handedness with the mystery of it if we will do so.

The summers and springs of life don’t call for much discussion, as they are times of celebration and fruitfulness. It is the falls and winters of life that are harder to grasp and live through. Here, I have chosen to unearth a few things I have learned about latter. 

In 2001, Bruce Wilkinson wrote the book Secrets of the Vine. The content of the book centered on the gospel of John, chapter 15, when the Last Supper took place with Jesus and his disciples. Jesus spoke truths to the believers in that room, and these truths still matter to believers today. Over the years I kept that book near and dear, and it helped me understand many things. But there was one thing Wilkinson and I disagreed on: while he called these truths “secret,” I found them to be “not so secret.”

I suppose I was under the impression like him that spiritual growth would be a hush-hush matter. But, in fact, once you start experiencing life “in the vine,” your soul is downright exposed and brought into the light; there is nothing confidential or classified about it. It is not subtle nor is it peacefully paced. Sure, God is at work within you, but believe me when I say others can sense it and see it, and you can feel it. Growing requires a stretching and changing of shape and consistency, and it is not easy.

It is not-so-secret.

(This is an excerpt from Whispers: Transforming Words for Your Ever Changing Life. See more in Chapter One.)