Being Faithful in the Seasons of Life

Labor Day weekend ushers in fall here in Portland, Oregon. It amazes me every year how abruptly the weather changes. The heat of summer gives way to cooler days and nights, the leaves that have been falling in our yard, brown and shriveled, because of how dry it is, suddenly are beginning to change color—splashes of red and the less dramatic yellow are appearing. Josh, the meteorologist on KOIN 6 news, delights in explaining to us what happens here during the month of September: how the sunset on September 1st is at 7:51 PM, changes to 7:24 PM by September 15^th, and then to 6:55 PM by September 30th. Because the sunrise is also changing, although not so dramatically, we lose 1½ hours of day light in one month! You, like me, may not be ready to hear that. Change! Days closing in. Less light. So much begins to change with this new season. Fall brings kids returning to school, young people setting out or returning to college, and a change in pace for families. How is this impacting you?

Each season has its own purpose.

Consider the trees.

How do they know? What instinct has God

preprogrammed into them that they recognize shorter days mean less sunlight, less energy available to feed the tree growth and leaf life? So these brave leaves accept their fate-- allow themselves to lose their chlorophyll and their ability to produce food and life, to be disconnected from the tree, and to float gracefully to the ground where eventually they will disintegrate to provide food for their tree. Such a glorious picture of willing surrender to the cycle of life. The tree that bids farewell stands patiently through the cold and wet of winter to rest and then receive the new life of spring.

All nature follows the pattern set in place for them by God, their place in the cycle of life. Without grumbling, whining, even screaming! Except homo sapiens-- the “wise” human made in the image of a gracious, loving, kind, patient God-- no grumbling, whining, or screaming in Him. So why in us?

In our lifespan, we pass through seasons-- from childhood, through adolescence, to adulthood with the challenges of identity and purpose. And then into what Richard Rohr calls the “Second Half of Life” when the container we have built no longer sustains life and we begin to long for something different. Ronald Rolheiser in his book Sacred Fire identifies three stages he describes in this way:

“ESSENTIAL DISCIPLESHIP—the struggle to get our lives together

MATURE DISCIPLESHIP—the struggle to give our lives away

RADICAL DISCIPLESHIP—the struggle to give our deaths away”

Yes, those are the major seasons, and yet within each season we also find changing seasons. I think we move in and out of those throughout our lives: winter when everything seems on hold and maybe dark and filled with seemingly unresolved troubles; spring when things change and hope is rekindled and something lovely is promised; summer when all is well and we celebrate with thanksgiving the bounty of God's love and then fall when the lessons of the previous seasons are integrated and celebrated.

I wonder where you find yourself today. I wonder if you can hear God’s invitation to you in whatever season you are in. I wonder if you have eyes to see the gifts he is offering. Elizabeth Barrett Browning penned these lines:

Earth’s crammed with heaven,

and every common bush afire with God:

but only he who sees takes off his shoes,

the rest sit around and pick blackberries.

Oh, God, give us eyes to see you.

The questions we are going to explore through the through the next few months here in the Fermata blog are these:

• how can I be faithful to God in this season?

• how can I pay attention to where I am, to be fully present to the season, not focused on living longingly for “where the grass is greener”?

• how am I surrendering to what is being asked of me, with an openness to listen to the Spirit and to receive the gifts God is offering?

• how do I get my life together or how do I give my life away?

We have been enjoying different voices over the past few months here on this blog. And they will continue as each writer unpacks what faithfulness looks like to him or her within their current season of life-- from the young people making plans for life beyond high school, to the parents who are facing releasing them, and to those of us who grapple with an empty nest or retirement.

How can I give my life away?

As a retired person with everyday offering me the possibility of “doing whatever I want”, I find great delight in being faithful and being intentional about how I live my life and being open daily to the Spirit’s leading. As I shared in my blog (see July 21), I have just been through a dark winter period when so many of my loved ones were going through impossible situations. I was becoming heavier and darker in my spirit as I moved way beyond what God intended for me in carrying others’ burdens. Since that time, I sense I am moving into a more spring-like season, despite so many of my peeps still caught in their difficulties. I am choosing not to try to be living water for them and reminding God that he is. (Like he needs me to tell him.)

I am seeking to be faithful in my calling as a wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. Recently I had a challenge with one of my peeps. I saw things I sensed a need to address with her. (Living water, Wendy?) On the morning I was planning to make the phone call to share these things, I was reading my usual Bible verses: the Psalm of the day, a few Old Testament verses, and numerous verses from the New Testament. In the Old Testament, I was reading in Amos. I am sure you cannot imagine that God can talk to you through Amos. Give him a chance!

Here are the words I read in the Message Bible, God's words as a reprimand to the children of Israel: “Mean to the poor; cruel to the down-and-out.” Mean? Cruel? Me? Oh! God, You are asking me to be kind when I make that phone call. Point taken. I then turn to my study my friend and I are planning to do later that day, Day 2 of Tyler Staton's new book, After Amen. In his poem, he is crying out to God: “Don’t grow discouraged with me; remain patient with me…” The words jump off the page. Discouraged? Patient? Oh! God, you want me to let her know I am not discouraged with her and to be patient with her. Point two. And then, while I am waiting for my friend to be ready, I take the time to continue working on the essay I am composing for a writing course I am taking -- to share about one of my core values, and I had chosen “enjoyment.” The third strike! I need to let my peep know I enjoy who she is. I throw up my hands in surrender. Laughter fills the room. God is messing with me again in such a delightful way. I am so grateful. And the phone call I made later that day had a hugely different tone and outcome.

Faithful-- to God, to others, to yourself. What will that look like in your life today in the important things and in the little? Whatever season you find yourself in, see it as a time of adventure and delight. Open your eyes to see where God is speaking to you, the gifts he is offering to you. I promise you will not be disappointed.