By April Goetsch – The Common Mercies Blog
“Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14
Where I live we have two seasons: summer and almost summer. And no matter which direction you look, you will see the same landscape—desert. Don’t get me wrong, the desert has its beauty, but we certainly don’t see the changing of seasons that happen in other parts of the country.
I have, however, been in Pennsylvania in the fall, and it’s breathtaking. Reds, oranges, greens and purples literally cover the hillsides. I’ve also been to the Pacific Northwest in the spring. You can’t possibly understand how many shades of green there are until you see them for yourself during that time of year.
How boring would this world become if God stopped painting scenes of nature in different colors throughout the year? Thankfully, every year we can count on orange being painted over brown and white over orange and green over white—and in such detail that we are left in awe.
Likewise, the seasons of our lives look and smell and feel different, and we can count on God eventually painting over each one with a new and exciting color. Every season of life is worth our investment. How can we invest in the season we are in currently?
1. Live every moment to the fullest.
There are seasons in which we must play through the pain and there are off-seasons in which we enjoy rest and recovery. Your current season of life may include health difficulties. Maybe your season of life has you caring for an aging parent or an ill child. Perhaps you are empty nesting for the first time or you are newly married. Wherever your season of life finds you, take advantage of every opportunity to live it to the fullest.
When Solomon wrote, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven,” he used a word for “time” that refers to more than just chronological time. He was talking about a season of time. He is challenging the reader to live fully and completely during every season of life. When it’s the season to weep, weep great tears that rack your body with sorrow. When it’s a season for dancing, dance like a crazy person. (Ecclesiastes 3) Whatever season you are in, live fully.
2. Ignore the urgent.
Charles Hummel, in his brilliant little essay “Freedom from the Tyranny of the Urgent,” said, “Our greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important ones.”
Endless, seemingly important demands rush at all of us under the disguise of “urgent.” A text message, a Facebook notification, an email, a phone call. They beep and ring and shout at us, “Look at me! Notice me! Pay attention to me!” So we spend our days responding to urgent things that are disguised as important things and meanwhile, seasons pass us by without our even realizing it.
Learn to recognize the difference between the urgent and the important and refuse to be controlled by the stuff that doesn’t matter.
3. Accept this season as a gift from God—no matter what it looks like.
Can you imagine how Esther, pulled from her home and chosen to be concubine for the King of Persia, had to be feeling about the current season in which she found herself? She wouldn’t have chosen her life to look as it did at that moment, I’m sure. Yet without even knowing it, she had been positioned at the exact place at the exact time for the exact purpose God wanted her to fulfil.
Esther is second guessing her role in the current national crisis when her cousin Mordecai asks her a question that will not only change her thinking, but will change an entire nation: Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14)
God has bigger plans for our lives than we can see. When we understand that, we can accept that every season is not only sacred, but a gift.
Every one of the four seasons has its own smells and sounds and colors and mysteries, and so do the seasons of our lives. Each one looks and sounds different from the last and calls for a different kind of living, but if we pay close attention, we will find that every single one has the potential to mold us and inspire us to impact eternity.
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