Seasons: Sowing Sorrow, Reaping Joy
Spring is so enchanting. The landscape transforms with such immediacy. Each day something else seems to be showing off bright new leaves and luscious ruffled flowers. As someone who has lived in South and Central Florida, the land of unending summers, nearly all my life, Spring's beauties inspire a particular wonder and awe-- especially now that I get to actually experience them here in the North Georgia mountains. Daffodils and other bulbs emerge from their hiding and just a couple short weeks later they show off their ephemeral blossoms, as fleeting as they are delicate and beautiful. Peonies and other flowering shrubs that had died back completely to the ground suddenly reveal small maroon buds bursting forth from just under the surface. Maple trees turn red with new growth and the air is thick with the scent of flowering trees that have burst forth in color so promptly that it seems as if they're hooked up to a switch. The crab apple tree in my yard had a particularly quick transformation, from bare branches to covered in vibrant green leaves in half a week's time. Trees and plants that we forgot were even there have had a striking metamorphosis from dormancy to vibrancy.
Places where we didn't even realize there was life, have revealed that it was there all along, hiding just beneath the surface.
Spring is glorious. And I mean that in the truest sense of the word.
God's glories and wonders are so far beyond my comprehension. I am grateful that He gives us pictures in the natural world to reveal a little more clearly the excellencies of His ways. Oftentimes I have failed to see the connection between things material and spiritual, but lately God has been drawing my attention to just how often in Scripture He uses things in the material world to teach us spiritual truths. The way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Matthew 23:37), the fleeting existence of a flower (Isaiah 40:8), the splendor of a lily (Matthew 6:28-29), the love of a Father for his son (Luke 15), a sprouting seed choked out by weeds (Matthew 13), the concept of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7-9)-- all are meant to teach us something.
And so I've been trying to observe the world with open eyes and an attentive heart, drinking in the beauties of this world and reflecting on how they prepare me for the next.
As you can tell from my earlier reflection on the wonders of Spring, I've been giving particular attention to the changes in seasons, and what God may have for me to learn in this. I recalled recently how difficult the changing seasons were for me the first couple of years after I lost Jake. With each passing season I was reminded that more time had gone on without him, and likewise, with the anticipation of each arriving season I would reminisce about all the holidays and celebrations and lazy days (although Jake didn't have many of those) we had enjoyed in years prior. I always found myself in a bit of a funk when Summer passed into Fall and Fall into Winter and so on. The change felt bitter in so many ways.
But I can see that in change there is also hope. I look back on areas of my life that felt bleak and empty like winter, and I see now that life has sprung up- and often in places where I did not even know to look for it! I take great comfort in knowing that if we find ourselves in a difficult season, it is just that- a season. It will soon pass into another, and if we are faithful "sowers" during those times when things seem lifeless and dull, we will eventually reap a harvest of beauty and joy.
Sometimes the dark seasons seem to drag on and on, and we wonder if Spring will ever come. It's during those times that I cling to the truth that God's timing differs from my own. He knows what is best. And he has lessons to teach me and joy to offer me no matter what season I find myself in, or for how long.
On the other side of the spectrum, many who are experiencing "the good life" may find themselves fearful of a change in season (been there!). We crave an endless summer when God desires to improve our spiritual health through the loss and pruning of Fall. Or perhaps He will chose a long, cold winter to teach us of His comfort and sufficiency in ways we'd never know during the abundance of Spring. Oh how I long to know more of His goodness and grace- and I am just so limited in my understanding when I linger in the cool breezes of Spring and refreshing splash of Summer for too long!
Of course the ultimate comfort in tough times is that my entire life on this earth is but a passing season. No matter how long the suffering seasons seem to drag on, for Christ followers the best is always yet to come. "All flesh is like grass" but those in Christ have been born again of "an imperishable seed," "through the living and abiding word of God." (1 Peter 1:23-25) "This is the good news that was preached to [us]." - Not merely that life here is temporary, but that the temporary is in fact giving way to eternal life- to life forever with God!
Galatians 6 reminds us that God is not mocked; if we sow to our flesh we reap destruction, but if we sow to the Spirit we reap life. But I'm encouraged that in the Gospel we reap even MORE than we sow! We offer filthy rags and receive Christ's righteousness. We offer empty hands and receive full hearts. We offer ourselves as living sacrifices and receive the pleasure of God. As the Psalmist says,
5Those who plant in tears
will harvest with shouts of joy.
6They weep as they go to plant their seed,
but they sing as they return with the harvest. (Psalm 126)
Beloveds, though you may sow in tears, trust in the Lord, work hard in the land He's given you, cultivate faithfulness (Psalm 37), and don't grow weary in doing good. "For in due season, we will reap, if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9) We will reap a harvest of joy and experience a Spring of eternal life that will be worth all the blood, sweat, and tears. We will wonder anew at His beauty each day for a thousand years and never fear the sting of death or suffering again. We will be with him forever. "Encourage one another with these words (1 Thess. 4:16-18)."
Ecclesiastes 3
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
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