Seasons
I am home for the summer to work and spend time with my family. I am working 3+ jobs, am trying to love on sisters who I don't always know how to show them how much I care, and I am trying to figure out where I am at with a lot of stuff in life. I have spent a lot of time doing odd jobs in the past month or so, many of which I spend gardening. Beyond just a lucrative side job, gardening feels like a metaphor for the season of life I am in right now. My life feels like an overgrown garden with weeds and plants both growing wildly. It is in this season that weeding, pruning, fertilizing, and watering is happening. Just as God calls us to care for his creation as gardeners, He is caring for me as my soul gardener. It isn't easy, and after a long season of going without pruning, the wild briers of my heart aren't quite accustomed to the rhythms of my Creator's care yet.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says,
"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 laugh,
a time to mourn 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."
Life flows in seasons. And each one has its purpose and role.
The season that I am currently is different than any before. It is this strange ecosystem of support and work in my heart and my life being done by my community, my God, and I. It is the sort of work that is lonely, exhausting, and challenging, until all at once it is not any of those things whatsoever. Those moments are the ones that push me to keep growing and working and leaning into this process of encountering God and the other. Here's to living in "a time to plant and a time to uproot".
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 laugh,
a time to mourn 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."
Life flows in seasons. And each one has its purpose and role.
The season that I am currently is different than any before. It is this strange ecosystem of support and work in my heart and my life being done by my community, my God, and I. It is the sort of work that is lonely, exhausting, and challenging, until all at once it is not any of those things whatsoever. Those moments are the ones that push me to keep growing and working and leaning into this process of encountering God and the other. Here's to living in "a time to plant and a time to uproot".
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