Oct 6th, 2022: Change of Seasons

Raking leaves can be a pleasure for some and a pain for others. It is that time of the year. Tree colors are changing fast, and it won't be long before many of them completely bare. It is the sign of a change of seasons. The colors are strikingly beautiful even though it signifies the beginning of a long cold winter.

God does the same thing in our lives. There will be many changes of seasons when we learn how to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes God will encourage us to step away from our responsibilities, so He can raise up younger generations to lead. Leaders who fail to do that tend to face a long personal winter of desolation. Power is seductive, and sometimes it confuses us between doing God's will and pursuing our desires.

A tree has to shut down, so it will prepare itself for the coming spring. We need the wisdom to walk away so God can prepare us for the next fruitful season of our lives. We might be the ones who start a ministry. It doesn't mean we have the God-given right to stay as long as we want. God is bigger than any one of us while carrying out His plan for the world. It's a fallacy to think God needs us and cannot do well without our involvement.

We ought to die in some ways to embrace the change of seasons in our lives. God will raise us up with a new assignment, and we don't need to look back with regret. Joy and hope are the fruits dying to ourselves. Fear, paranoia, and control are what we face while insisting on living our lives selfishly.

James 1: 17-19

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created."

Ecclesiastes 3: 2

"A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;"