A Season for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3:1                                          A Season for Everything

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens….” (NIV)

As a former teacher and a photographer, my seasons have been somewhat confused.  Spring is a time of new birth as I witness trees sprout leaves, flowers begin to bloom, and even baby animals frolic through the fields, a great time for a photographer.  Fall, on the other hand, is the beginning of a new school year, and as a teacher the excitement of a new group of students and sometimes a new subject to teach.  The vibrant colors of the leaves as they change excite the photographer’s creative juices as much as the surging of spring.

Summertime is the time of preparation for me as a teacher to prepare for the coming school year, but it is also the time when we explore God’s beautiful creation.  Of course the photographer in me enjoys the longer days, the lingering sunsets, and the stirring sunrises throughout this fantastic creative work of God.

During the winter many animals hibernate, the trees rest, but the teacher is hard at work plying his trade, the nurturing of young minds.  The photographer deals with special challenges with light as the snow falls and confuses the camera, but many of my favorite photographs have been taken in this challenging time.

So, what does all this talk about teacher and photographers have to do with “a season for every activity under the heavens?”  Annual seasons affect all of us in different ways according to our life situations, and lifetime seasons can easily be seen in each life.  Is it time for me to reflect on my spiritual life, my life of work for our Lord, and see how productive or non-productive I have been so far?  Is it time for me to realize that I may have wasted the time of preparation for the harvest?  Will my harvest be as full as it could have or should have been?  These are cogent questions, but we should rejoice over the lives we have affected for Christ, the lost we’ve helped find Jesus, the Christ followers we have helped grow, and the children, our own and others, we have nurtured with the faith.  We know that the angels in heaven rejoice over every soul saved, that’s right EVERY ONE, none more so than any other.  So, don’t be discouraged but rejoice with the angels whatever your season of life.