By Lisa Sorey
Changing Seasons in Life
Recently, a friend of mine was telling me about taking her youngest child to the first day of kindergarten. It was the beginning of the school year and my friend was so distraught! As we talked, she began recounting events from the life of her youngest child. She was enjoying reliving these fond memories. Suddenly in our conversation, she burst out, “Before you know it she will be graduating from high school!” My friend was truly mourning the passing of her youngest child’s early years.
Changes happen in life. We don’t always like these changes. Why is it that we don’t really like change? What is it that can even sometimes make us reject it or run from it? Most of us have heard the belief that humans don’t like change very much. I tend to agree with this wisdom. I also think it is safe to say that many of us are afraid of change.
Our lives can undergo many changes. We may change jobs or careers several times. We may relocate and live in various places. We may change our church membership. We make new friends or get a new hairstyle. As individuals, we perceive these changes, large or small, very differently. We are very distinctive in how we feel about changes in our lives.
In the Old Testament, Malachi 3:6 tells us, “I the Lord do not change.” What a comfort we can find in these words! In an ever-changing world, God does not change! And His love for us does not change! God will not leave us, even when we experience a shift or change to what we consider to be our “normal.”
“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.”
~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 was my great-grandmother’s favorite scripture. When I was younger, this passage was not especially meaningful to me. I associated it with a song on the radio and my great-grandmother, who by this time had passed away. (I’m giving away my age since The Byrds released this song in late 1965!) But now that I am older, this Scripture has meaning that I didn’t recognize at a younger age.
By the time my great-grandmother was my age, she had witnessed birth and death many times. One of the most heartbreaking was the death of one of her children as a small child. As I look at her favorite Scripture and try to imagine how broken she was after burying a baby girl, I think I can begin to see how this passage from Ecclesiastes can hold us up when we feel like we cannot go on. It doesn’t matter if you are experiencing a difference in a friendship or a marriage. It is the same if we are moving across town or to another state. Psalm 9:10 underscores this as the psalmist tells us, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”
Re-reading these verses in Ecclesiastes and Psalms, I think I can begin to understand my great-grandmother’s faith. I am beginning to see how I can apply this to my own life. Some of the changes that I have experienced recently aren’t changes that I wanted in my life. And I have prayed and cried out to God about how I haven’t gotten what I wanted. Slowly, I am starting to realize that I have to accept that I’m not in control! My thoughts and prayers are changing…and I can praise Him in the storm! His Word reminds me that He is in control and He will never leave me!
Are you experiencing a time of crisis or change presently? Are you still wounded from something that you have just gone through? Maybe you just made it through a life change and feel beaten up afterwards. There is HOPE! There is HEALING! That hope and healing is offered to us from God through the offering He made for us in the life of His Son, Jesus. In the New Testament portion of the Bible, Hebrews 5:8-9 states, “Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him….”
Lisa Sorey is currently employed at Summit Counseling as an Intern Associate. Lisa and her husband, Adrian, reside in Terry, MS.
