A Time for Every Season

Autumn is my favorite season. The crisp mornings followed by golden sunlight; splashes of color at every corner. There is vibrancy to Autumn that is reawakened after the balmy days of late summer. As if life itself takes a momentary exhale and warmly draws us in into the beginnings of quiet hibernation.

This year it felt like Autumn wasn’t going to happen. Every morning of September, I would look out my bedroom window in hopes of change, yet there wasn’t a difference. The leaves were still green, and it was 90 degrees outside. Doubt tugged at my mind. What if the leaves didn’t turn this year? What if something had caused a shift? Like too much rain? Or too little?

October began and the temperatures started to dip. Slowly, but surely red and yellow hues began to peak their way through my neighborhood. One evening while walking with my husband, I was excitedly pointing out the variety of color, when I realized the trees in my own yard were still very much green.

I continued to watch over the next few days, and still, green remained. Again, doubt began to creep into my impatient heart. Where were my colors? When will my trees turn?

How often do we find ourselves in a season that isn’t changing as quickly as we expect? Why is it that we compare ourselves to those around us and allow doubt to take root?

The bible says in Ecclesiastes Chapter 3:

“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT)

We cannot see the whole scope of all that God is doing in our lives. Furthermore, we cannot compare what God is doing for us against what He appears to be doing for others.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 reads:

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT)

God’s timing is perfect. All of creation moves in accordance with His immaculate design.

The leaves in my yard have since changed their colors. The maple tree outside my bedroom window is the brightest, blazing orange. Every morning, I wake up to its heated glow. This year, Autumn has come at exactly the right time. How is it that I even doubted?