Winds of Change
Written by Nancie Carmichael
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. – Ecclesiastes 3:1
This is looking to be a beautiful autumn, and the colors of the trees are stunning. Maybe it’s even more beautiful because we know what’s ahead. As someone said, “Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.” True. But as I wait for my snow tires to be put on, I’m not looking forward to seeing bare branches on trees and all the rest that comes with it. Sure, we need rain and snow desperately. Bill has his snowplow ready (probably insurance that we won’t need it)!
As I walked yesterday, the dry pine needles crunched under my feet. We do need rain. I stopped several times to listen to the wind sighing through the pines. The sky that had been clear blue was now filled with clouds. Change is coming.
Have you had to let go of certain things in your present season? I have, and it can be hard, especially as we let go of things that once defined us. While change is welcome, a new season confronts us with its limits as well as its gifts. To gain the new, we let go of the old. My flowerpots look bedraggled, and my neighbour already has pumpkins on her porch. I’m still milking summer for all I’ve got! Typical me. If I’m still wrapped up in the past, I can’t fully anticipate the present, nor the future.
What will the next season hold for you, for me? For all of us? Jesus said to be aware of the changing season: “Learn this parable from the fig tree.” (Matt. 24:32,33)
Meanwhile, what do we do with this in-between season when we sense the winds of change? We can remember:
God is in this season where we are now. We are given this present moment, a powerful moment. It is a time to be watchful and prayerful. Time to prepare.
We can hold to God’s unchanging hand. No matter how small it seems, we can invest now in the things that matter, in prayer and in love. Or maybe in big ways!
Realize there is opportunity here: “The wind of God is always blowing, but we must hoist the sails.”
Find comfort and wisdom in scripture! We are not left without direction, to muddle through without guidance no matter what season we are in.
Be open to the new and unexpected. Be open to a new season. Or open to doing old things in a new way! We can pray, “Lord, I’m available. Show me. Use me. For whatever.”
It can be tempting to pull in, to give up. To hide from a new season which seems strange and does not seem to welcome what we have to offer. But in the new season, there are good things. And certainly, there are times we must grieve what we had to let go. (We must never minimize that.) But in a new season, we can realize that life isn’t over; it’s just different. If we are stuck in the past, we can’t live fully in the present. If our hearts and minds are full trying to generate energy from the previous season, we can’t see what’s in this one.
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah. 43:10
