Honoring the season you are in
- Carly Morton
- Oct 10, 2020
- 3 min read
I listen to the 'Rise and Conquer' podcast by Georgie Stevenson, which I highly recommend if you are looking for inspiring content around healthy living, mindset and personal development. She recently started asking her guests "What season are you in?" and by that, she wasn't asking if it was summer or winter where you live, but rather, what point are you at in your life?
In our life, like a book, we experience different chapters, or seasons. Some of these are short, others are long. Some seasons may appear to be overwhelming and others may be inspiring. As much as we try to control the ebb and flow of our life, often we can't dictate the length or nature of the season, we can only choose whether we going to merely endure it or whether we going to embrace it and all the lessons and challenges it presents us with.
The Bible talks about this in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:
"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die" It goes on to describe all the different times that exist in our lives and encourages us to not only be prepared for these but to accept them as a natural aspect of life and growth.
It is important to honor the season you are in.
Maybe the season you are experiencing at the moment s not positive. It's easy to want to rush through it, get it "over and done with" and move onto something that is more enjoyable for you. But it's during these tests that you are stretched in ways you never thought possible, you are taught things like grit, resilience, perseverance and courage and you realise your true capacity. I love this quote by Rachel Hollis "How you approach the hills, is how you approach life". She uses this running metaphor to highlight how the challenges we face define us.
Perhaps the season you are in seems unnecessarily slow, boring and mundane?
Maybe you are being called to a slower life. It is during these slow times that you learn the importance of quiet moments, practicing gratitude and mindfulness and being a good steward with what you already have before you are given anything new.
Right now I'm called to a season of 'waiting'.
I wanted so desperately to own my own house, get married and have kids, moving onto that next season and phase in life. But I'm hearing very clearly from God that the season I need to be in is one of quiet and stillness. Earlier this year, Dave and I were gearing up to buy a house in the area we want to live in. We had all the finances sorted, our offer was accepted and it seemed like everything was moving along in the direction I wanted. Then the building report came back. We found out some things that we weren't expecting and it didn't look like a financially viable project. We pulled out of the sale. Once again, I was devastated. This coincided with a $25 a week rent increase on our current place, so I was desperate to get out. I started combing through rentals online, uncertain that anything would come up in my area. Lo and behold, a new rental was listed. I applied and was accepted. Not only is this new house super cute and easy to maintain, but it is also $85 a week cheaper. I wouldn't have found this gem of a place if I had of gone ahead with the other sale.
When the house we wanted to buy fell through I could have been so disheartened that I pushed to make it happen or to find a different house to buy. But instead, I took it as a sign that this is the season to rent, save my money and stay put. This season taught me about patience and being a good steward of the house I already live in and the money I already have saved. Maybe it's not what I wanted or what I envisioned for my life, but perhaps it's what I need.
If you are looking at your season and being uncertain or disheartened by it, don't be. Chances are there are things that you need to learn that only this time in your life can teach you.
Carly x
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