“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1
Harvest season at the end of summer is wonderful. Vegetables fresh from the farm. Red
and orange tomatoes, full heads of cauliflower, broccoli, and squash. Corn so tender
and sweet, needing only a light drizzle of butter. Each bite crisp and very, very good. I
also like asparagus in the spring, and juicy oranges from Florida in the winter season.
Each season brings its own goodness. And to get that goodness requires a lot.
Jesus often used images of seasons and farming. Farmers understand that timing is
important. That crops need nurture and time and attention. That the soil needs rest in
between times of growth and abundance. Farmers understand cycles of birth and
death. They have learned that out of death comes new life in seeds. Farming may not
be as familiar to us as it was to the people in Jesus’ time, but the images do still teach us
about living our human lives.
Life is not just constant abundance. We have endings, and pauses, often not of our own
choosing. We have times where we are growing physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
We have times of “harvest” where we complete projects or see where we’ve made a
difference. We also have different seasons of life as we age.
Ecclesiastes 3 ponders the meaning and purpose of life, and that there is goodness in
every part. Each “season” of life has value. Paul wrote in Philippians “I have learned the
secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether
living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” He is
talking about developing an attitude of thanksgiving, of believing that God is at work in
every season of our life. Each day, each season, may we grow in this gratitude. Every
day, remember to ask, “Where do we see good and where do we see God at work?”
Chaplain Karen