shadow

seasons

Savoring Your Season: Even In Waiting

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

Life is full of seasons other than spring, summer, fall and winter. Childhood, adolescence, and adulthood; single, dating, engaged and married. We have healthy and unhealthy seasons, ones of flourishing and of pruning, and every high and low in between. I’ve been one to say I’m in a season of waiting just as often as I say I’m in a season of going. Too often, we lose sight of the present season for looking too much on the seasons past or future. Let’s take some time this week to be honest about our seasons – mentally, spiritually, physically and emotionally – and learn to savor and soak in where we are now.

 

Even In Waiting

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart…

fridayEcclesiastes 3:11

Waiting is one of my least favorite things in the world, yet I feel like I am always waiting on something. Whether it’s a vanilla latte or a visa in my passport, a Prince Charming or a new job, waiting seems to be a constant in my life.

Too often we have the wrong perspective on waiting. We get stuck in the mentality that “Life will finally start when _____:” I get promoted. I get married. I buy a house. You fill in the blank with whatever it is that you’re waiting on. I’m so guilty of functioning under the belief that happiness and ability to serve the Lord only comes when all of my ducks are in a row, but that’s just not the case.

Every season is deliberate and infused with God’s presence, and it’s ours for the taking. We can choose to be present in our seasons of waiting, but too often we catch glimpses of what’s ahead or think we know what we want to happen and then lose sight of what is here and now. We push and barrel forward, praying for a change in seasons, and miss what is right in front of us.

We were created with an ache for a different season because God has put eternity in our hearts. The desire we feel for what’s next is rooted in God’s desire for us, that we would seek first the Kingdom and chase after the home awaiting us.

Our mortal lives will always be marked by waiting for what’s next, but we can learn to be present in the waiting. We can learn to seek and praise God in each season of waiting, to take what His hands have dealt and to worship in the in-betweens of life.

We will find the most fulfillment when we are living out God’s will for us in the seasons He has placed us in. Choosing to seek His higher perspective on our current circumstances and taking His view on our seasons rather than our own makes all the difference.

Chelsey

Savoring Your Season: The Art of Simplicity

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

Life is full of seasons other than spring, summer, fall and winter. Childhood, adolescence, and adulthood; single, dating, engaged and married. We have healthy and unhealthy seasons, ones of flourishing and of pruning, and every high and low in between. I’ve been one to say I’m in a season of waiting just as often as I say I’m in a season of going. Too often, we lose sight of the present season for looking too much on the seasons past or future. Let’s take some time this week to be honest about our seasons – mentally, spiritually, physically and emotionally – and learn to savor and soak in where we are now.

 

The Art of Simplicity

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

John 15:2

thursdayIf you search the phrase “simplify life” on Google or Pinterest, there will be no shortage of websites and blog posts that give you a list of things to do to find the simplicity in whatever area of life you’re in. It’s pretty obvious that simplicity is something that everyone is looking for, and as believers, we should actually consider joining the crowd for this one.

I remember listening to a sermon at some point in my life where the speaker showed a picture of what looked like an overgrown bush. It looked as if it was dying – the branches looked dry and the leaves were yellowed and quickly turning brown, and the few fruits hanging on looked like they would shrivel up at any second. Then he showed us a different picture of a vineyard. The leaves were green and the grapes were beautiful. I was shocked to find out that those pictures were from the same exact place. The difference was in the way they came to life: the first was allowed to live overwhelmed by buds and branches and new growth, someone never choosing what was most important and cutting back the rest. The second was intentionally cut away in order to allow the best to grow more.

Too often, our lives look like the overgrown mess. We feel like we have to do so many things and we have so many different branches and buds of obligations and service demanding our attention that they all suffer. We want to volunteer, we want to be a part of this Bible study and lead that small group. We commit to taking on another project at work, we want to go on this mission trip and that service project – all because these things are good. They are good, but oftentimes, the “good” is the enemy of the “best.”

Just like a plant with too many buds and branches cannot possibly sustain all of them, so are our lives if we’re overloaded with commitments. Some buds have to die and some have to be intentionally cut away or pruned in order for the most important ones to flourish. Simplification may look at first like death, but it brings greater and healthier growth than any other option.

I’ve had to learn to declutter my life, and I’ll continue having to learn to declutter my life as seasons change. All that a cluttered, overloaded life does is distract me from what should be most important and central: Jesus Christ.

We are called to much, yes, but we are not called to everything. Remembering this frees us to live fully where God places us.

It may look like simplifying your closet, your expenses, your appointment book or your list of ministry commitments, but I encourage you to spend some time asking the Lord what simplification looks like for you in this season.

Chelsey

Savoring Your Season: Freedom From Comparison

Posted on: by: Comments: Leave a comment

Life is full of seasons other than spring, summer, fall and winter. Childhood, adolescence, and adulthood; single, dating, engaged and married. We have healthy and unhealthy seasons, ones of flourishing and of pruning, and every high and low in between. I’ve been one to say I’m in a season of waiting just as often as I say I’m in a season of going. Too often, we lose sight of the present season for looking too much on the seasons past or future. Let’s take some time this week to be honest about our seasons – mentally, spiritually, physically and emotionally – and learn to savor and soak in where we are now.

 

Freedom From Comparison

And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live, obey, love and believe right there.

1 Corinthians 7:17 (The Message)

wednesdayI think it’d be a lie if any of us were to say we’ve never compared our lives to someone else’s. Why are they getting married and I’m not? Why did they get that new promotion while my job has stayed the same for years? Why are they moving into that new house while I’m still here? Why are they having a baby and I can’t?

It can be painful to watch people walk through seasons that are different from our own, especially when they are walking through a season that we deeply desire to experience.

My senior year of college, I spent a lot of weekends going to bridal showers, teas, and weddings of dear friends. If there were ever moments free of some kind of wedding activity for one friend, there was a ring being given to another friend. I threw parties and showers and bought gifts while quietly wondering when it was my turn. Comparison tempted me towards competition, and competition always threatens to contaminate the purity of a community.

It wasn’t until after a summer full of weddings when I was halfway around the world missing one of my best friends’ weddings that I realized how beautiful our different seasons were. She was celebrating with family and friends, gaining a partner for life to follow Jesus with. Other friends were celebrating the beginning of their final year of school; some were mourning the season of college passing, others were walking almost blindly into a new job in a new city, and still more were wondering when their job applications would finally lead to an interview. Our seasons were drastically different, and there were parts of each of them that were easy to look on with envious eyes. But to compare our season to someone else’s robs up of the joy, life, and wisdom in our own.

God never uses one approach to get His job done in the world. He has put you in a unique season that sings a unique song that only another heart can hear clearly. To wish you were in another person’s season not only robs you of what He has for you but can also rob another human of what God has meant for you to share with them.

Instead of comparing my season with those of my friends, I’ve learned that I must learn from them. Each of our seasons brings unique wisdom and perspective that is meant to be shared. To tell the truth, sometimes it really is painful. To tell a bigger truth though? Learning from the unique seasons of others instead of comparing mine to them, especially the ones I am so desperately wanting to be in, allows me to live in my current season more freely and honestly. And when we live freely and honestly in our different seasons – joy and pain included – the gospel comes to life in us and others around us.

Chelsey