Seasons for a higher purpose…

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Earlier this week I saw a post on Facebook from my daughter and it said “so long nyc.” For some reason her simple statement hit me right at the core and stirred up some emotions and the next thing I knew tears were welling in my eyes. I couldn’t help but think how proud I was of her, a young lady from a small village in the midwest attaining her dream of experiencing a summer internship in the heart of the Big Apple. It took a whole lot of effort on her part, and money and faith on mom and dad’s part 🙂 to fulfill this dream and here it is 3 months later and “poof” this short season in her life is over. But what a huge season it was for her overall growth and my willingness to “let go” of her.

A few days after my daughter returned home our other lab/chow dog fell sick and died. We’ve now lost two-lab/chows in a month’s time. As most of you know I lost my best friend back in April. As I reflect on this current season I am in, I view it as a season of losses but it has helped me grow and gain so much as a person trying to walk the walk.

With that being said, I find myself singing The Byrds’ lyrics of “Turn, Turn, Turn” (as borrowed from Solomon’s writings in Ecclesiastes) in my head a lot these days.

To everything turn, turn,turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven..

Life is nothing but a bunch of seasons and Solomon, in Ecclesiastes as well as the Yardbirds make this notion very clear.

I often feel bad/sorry for the person who does not believe in Jesus and must view life and it’s various seasons as all there is to life. As Christians we know that our life is eternal and our earthly life and subsequent death is nothing but a few seasons which equates into nothing but a very small part of eternity.

Jesus also tells us that as Christians we aren’t here to simply “go through the motions” during the seasons of our life but to do what he calls us to do. He wants us to live our seasons for a higher purpose.

I’ll never forget a time years ago when I was struggling with my faith. I had accepted Jesus, but didn’t really understand why. I had a company that did work for a local Hospice organization and I was often at a patient’s bedside helping to manage their pain when they were about to take their last breath. On this particular occassion the patient, who was noticeably distressed and close to death, looked at me and said “Jay–do you believe in salvation?” and I said yes Merlin, why do you ask? “He said it is my responsibility as a Christian to bring others to Jesus and I just want to make sure I will see you again some day.”

Wow…here he was in his final leg of his final season, still living for a higher purpose.

Many of us get so hung up in the day to day drudgery of our seasons that we find ourselves living a life with no purpose and it becomes easy to live simply for our own selfish purposes. I am just as guilty as the next.

Bottom line, God calls us to do his work no matter what the circumstance or season. We can witness at work, we can witness at play and like my buddy Merlin, we can witness when we are on our death beds. All of our seasons need to have a higher purpose.

P.E.A.C.E.