Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 – There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
I love using the analogy of seasons in our life just as there are in nature and that each season is necessary and important in preparing us for the next season or chapter in our lives. We need to learn the art of being present and learning the lessons afforded to us in each season.
The wind and rain are both often seen as negative elements that serve to stop us from enjoying ourselves. The rain keeps us indoors and stops us from going about our everyday activities. The wind can be a nuisance and makes us feel unsteady. Just as with most things in our lives, this is a result of the perspective we hold. The seasons I want to focus on is the dry or rainy seasons, which are often the times in our lives where we face hardship.
Recently I watched a movie titled, The boy who harnessed the wind, which resonated with me and the season I currently feel myself in. To me the film was a story about determination and grit but above all else, hope. In the film the town where the setting takes place experiences a season of flooding preceding a season of famine. Here we see rain/water in two completely different lights, first as a curse and then as a necessity. Sometimes it is our current perspective that determines what we take from the season we are in. In the film, William, the young boy, creates a windmill in order to produce electricity to run a small-scale irrigation system for his village which allows them to survive through the season of drought. He chose not to become consumed by the season of famine and drought (hardship) but was prepared to apply himself in learning what was needed in that season.
There was a prayer in the film where the father prayed thanking God for the family’s blessings and then asking God for the strength to endure hardships. How many times do we pray for lack of trials rather than for God to be our strength through them? Suffering is a universal experience; it is inevitable in all of our lives.
Suffering and difficulties (the rainy or dry seasons) are tools that God uses in order to develop our characters and our faith, trust and intimacy with one another and with Him. Often in our seasons of hardship and suffering we respond by inflicting more suffering on ourselves or those around us and we often tend to magnify our pain unnecessarily. Rather than focusing on the pain, hardship or difficulties we need to look at the lessons it affords us. What do we need to build (0ften related to our character) during seasons or drought or famine?
“Sometimes God doesn’t change your situation because he’s trying to change your heart.”
Often our seasons of trials and difficulties are the very thing that prepare us to enjoy and even thrive in our next season of life. We need the rain for the fields to bear fruit and for harvests to be plentiful. We need the wind to generate power in order to sustain ourselves when we would otherwise be needing. How can we learn to be present in the season and learn to look out for what we can take away and learn from it? This is just a reminder that all seasons in our lives do not last forever and do come to pass, so how can we be present in each season so that we gain what we need from it and are ready to enjoy the season that follows.
“NGATI MPHEPO YOFIKA KONSE – God is the wind, which touches everything.”
I encourage you all to build a windmill out of faith and allow God to be the wind that generates power so that water may flow from you and bring life to all that surrounds you.
Live it well 