A Season for Everything
By Rev. Dr. David Scafide
What is your favorite time of year? For me, it is Autumn. We take a vacation every Fall to the Adirondacks to see the colors. The crispness of the air is invigorating after an oppressively hot summer. I love the smell of last-night’s-bonfire on my hoodie and the crunching of leaves under foot. It truly is a stimulation for all the senses.
And, of course, who can talk about Autumn but ignore the food! Harvest is a time that is celebrated throughout the agricultural world. In Jewish customs several of the harvests were also feasts and times of celebration as we see in books like Ruth. In fact, God commands a celebration of the Harvest in Deuteronomy 16.
I wish it could be Autumn year-round. But it’s not (and most of you summer lovers are glad my wishes don’t come true!). There is a rhythm to our time and when we try to break it, we end up with frustration, disillusionment, or worse. Winter is not the time to be captivated by the brilliant colors on trees. Spring is not when we harvest apples. That is an Autumn activity – no matter how much I want it to be. There is an order and process with seasons. We can’t hurry them up.
The same is true with life seasons. As a pastor I always want it to be “harvest time” having many people coming to faith, finding freedom, and being restored. Unfortunately, 2020-2021 has not been that season for most pastors. For many of us it is Winter and nothing we can do can force the season to be Autumn.
This is something my loving wife has to remind me of constantly as I long for God to hurry up and change seasons. I know and am content (mostly) with the rhythms and routines of the solar year, but when I look at the seasons in Ecclesiastes 3, there are only a few with which I am content. However, the goal is to be content in all seasons (Phil. 4:11-12). Whatever season you are going through, whatever circumstances are in your life – happy, sad, busy, bored, or hopeful – we are called to be content in those circumstances.
This is one of the beautiful things about celebrating a sabbath. It gives us space to remember we are not in control, but God is. He is watching over us in this season. He is working in us and through us this season. He is healing us this season. And while we may wish it were another one, we know that God will shelter us until He brings us into a new season. So my Autumn loving friends, keep looking to the harvest but rest contentedly, knowing that as we celebrate sabbath in other seasons, it draws us closer into the heart of God.
