Often times we expend energy longing for a season behind or hoping for a season that is coming. If we are not careful. It’s hard, I get it, and I’ve been there. I have a tool I would like to share with you this month that
will help you make the most of the season you are in, so be sure to keep reading…
Sometimes we fight for our mental wellness because we’re fighting against a principle in the Bible. I think many times we don’t realize the principle we are fighting against is the principle of seasons. Learning to find God in the season we’re in is key to an abundant life.
Maybe because my parents were public school teachers, the calendar dictated much of our life. Or maybe it was because the rhythm of seasons played such a huge role in my creative life. In my experience, I have learned valuable lessons regarding season that have helped me as I have battled for my mental wellness.
Seasons are for our benefit.
Can you imagine how vanilla our lives would be without seasons? I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast. One of the most frustrating times of the year for me was the holiday season. The average temperature was eighty-nine degrees, and eighty-two percent humidity. Watching television shows as a little boy about Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman made me wish for snow and cold. It should be cold at Christmas! I would get so frustrated. Seasons are for our benefit. They are reminders of the importance of rhymes in our lives. Too many times, we can get frustrated with the season we are in. We can fall into the trap of being desperate for a season that has passed or become too eager for a season that is coming, we miss the opportunities that God has for us in the season we are in. There are benefits in every season. You may feel this right now as you are reading this, but God has something for you in the season you are in right now. I am certain that whatever He has for you, it is for your benefit.
There is something difficult about every season.
My grandson, Gideon, begged me to plant a garden last summer. As adults, we know the only fun part of building a garden is at the end of a season when you get to bring in the harvest, the rest of its just hard work. We got busy, and we dug out the ground, enriched the soil, brought in some more soil, and built a fence around it to keep animals out. And then, I had to go back to Texas. Gideon was going out every day looking to see if there was a tomato, and it had been like four days, and there was no tomato. Do you see where I am going with this? I think this is true in all our lives. Maybe it’s been difficult to get pregnant, and you think if God would just give me kids. I want to hold a baby in my arms. Then finally, the children are born. And it’s not all you expected. It doesn’t smell like you expected it to smell. It’s not easy like we see in the movies. It’s sleepless nights, and you start thinking if I could just get out of the season of kids in diapers and me having to get up with them every night. And you, think, I can’t wait until they get into school. You move from a caregiver to a shuttle driver, and you think, man, if these kids could just drive, and finally, they begin to drive, and you’re back not sleeping again at night, because you’re worried about when they’re getting home when they leave the house. When we feel negative feelings about our current situations, we can want to rush through and be on to the next. We need to remember that there are difficult times in every season. We have so much to learn in the trials. The hard places in seasons are where deep relationships are forged-it’s where our reliance on God is grown. These are the times that help us grow in resilience. We learn to preserver in tough times. And we can never forget that God is with us no matter what, even when things feel difficult.
Every season is preparation for the next season.
When we see our season as a preparation for the season that is to come, we flourish. God is like that. Genesis says, “as long as the earth endures seed, time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. Seasons were put into effect so that one season, the night season, it’s saying here in Genesis, is preparation for the day, the season of the next day, and we all. If we don’t prepare well by getting rest at night, the following day doesn’t go well. I see this in some of the lives of the next generation. I have a deep love for young adults, and I want to spare them hard lessons from the dumb tax I have paid. I think it’s human nature to want to begin where we see other people. We don’t see the thirty years they spent to “arrive”. If you find yourself envious of someone else’s season, I want to encourage you to lean into everything God has for you right now. God wants to teach you and use you right now. And what you learn and experience today will be incredibly useful tomorrow.
Instead of seeing the season you’re in as a benefit from God and a gift for that moment, we expend so much energy, longing for a season behind, or hoping for a season that is coming. I have a tool I would like to share with you this month that will help you make the most of the season you are in. Click here to grab your copy. We all want to leave a legacy that we can be proud of. And we want to do all we can to make the most of the season we are in. Finding joy in the present and making memories today can improve our mental health. Try a few of these ideas this month, and let me know how it goes for you! Send me an email and tag me in your socials-I would love to see how you are making the most of your season!
Here’s a bonus for you!
You’re invited to join me at the FIRST-EVER Embracing Possibility: Navigating the Empty Nest Season with Confidence Summit, hosted by my friend, Martha Fry. This 3-day online summit has an amazing lineup of speakers, and I can’t wait to hear their presentations! You’ll get tons of inspiration, ideas, and actionable takeaways from this online event, whether you’re just entering the empty nest season or seasoned and looking for new skills. The online summit takes place March 21st-23rd
Want to join?
Get your ticket right here!: https://www.marthafry.com/summit
Swimming with you,
Toby