To Everything There Is a Season... and a Purpose

This time of year always gets me a little nostalgic.

The other morning on my walk I passed by a large oak I've passed by hundreds of times before. Its branches are gnarled and bent low by weight and age. It's every kid's dream, for it is the quintessential tree climbing tree.

For a moment I paused to go back to the day my youngest daughter and her dad climbed that tree together. It was Thanksgiving, and we were all out for a walk to settle our stomachs after the massive meal. On the way home she decided the silent invitation was too great to ignore as she raced to the behemoth to begin her ascent. Her dad, of course, followed suit.

If I really concentrate, I can see them in that tree still, a moment captured in time and put in the little treasure box of my heart for safekeeping.

That was probably close to fifteen years ago now. I miss those days.

Time marches on whether we care to join in or not.

When my children were little and we were deep in the throes of homeschooling I felt I knew my purpose. It was clearly defined. It was a delight to me to spend time with each of them every day, learning, laughing, doing life side by side. I spent a total of twenty-five years with the four of them from the birth of the first to the high school graduation of the last.

With that final graduation came my own, and honestly, I was at a loss as to what came next.

Initially I felt I had little more to offer. I had accomplished what I set out to do. Now what?

I prayed a lot in those first couple of years as I floundered, and in that time with the Lord He helped me see things clearer. It's cliche' I know, but life IS made up of seasons. They morph continually from one to the next. We are not designed to stay grounded in one forever. We morph too.

The thing that doesn't change is our purpose. God put each of us here on this earth to give Him glory in everything we do, and to serve Him by serving our fellow man. It really is that simple. That purpose remains steadfast no matter in which season we find ourselves. The thing that changes is simply where and to whom that purpose is directed.

Each and every one of those seasons is full to the brim of possibilities to put that purpose into action. Life isn't over when one season comes to a close. The lessons we've learned along the way, the skills we've honed, the trust we have continually put in the Lord to direct us has grown us, and gives us the confidence to go boldly into the next season, and the next after that.

One of the most profound statements about "purpose" I ever heard was the following. I believe it was made by a pastor, though now I cannot recall by whom. Please forgive the inability to quote perfectly, but the essence of it is this...

Even when you are old, feeble, and bedridden and cannot do anything for yourself, God still has a purpose for your life. That purpose is for you to be the purpose of someone else's life... for them to fulfill their purpose in serving you.

Seasons change. Purpose does not.

It's not wrong to get a little nostalgic now and again for the lovely times of the past. Those times were a gift from God, and were part of the grand design for our life. We just can't determine that we are defined by a single season. God always has more in store for us as He moves us closer and closer to the time when His purpose and the fulfillment of ours meet together one day.

God is good. This life is a journey, and if we allow God to direct it...

what a meaningful journey it can be.