TIME & SEASONS
“If you understand time and season, trust me you will envy no one...”
Happy New Year Y'all!! Welcome to 2020 +1 Ey!!!! Mama we made it hahaha.
Totally kidding, I know it seems like the events are bleeding into the next year, but like foreal, did you think Covid was just going to clock out at 12am? LOOL, can you imagine!
Nonetheless, grateful and blessed to see another calendar year, in spite of the pitfalls of 2020, it was an illuminating year for the world and I am sure for you. For some, the start of the new year is a relief, for others it may feel daunting as heck! Both sentiments are totally ok, why?
Psst... Come a little closer... Ok not to close " its a pandemic"
Ok, ready? It's ok because the weight of our lives are not actually measured by calendar years or the number of times the world goes around the sun but by seasons. No, not the natural seasons i.e fall, winter, spring, summer but by the periods or stages in our lives in which we seamlessly move from one to the next or find ourselves looping and repeating as the years go by.
We grow up hearing the memory verse " there is a season for everything" or the old adage "trust the timing of your life" . Even lately we often see on social media, quotes and encouragement about not being stifled by age markers, or not feeling pressured to have everything all together at a particular time. Something has clicked in our generation, maybe its the increase of breakdowns and mental health crises surrounding concepts of success or meeting society's expectations and/or people just simply wanting more from their life than just checking boxes.
For me it was definitely the combination of the two. My type A personality hinges on accomplishing goals in a timely fashion, but I kept hitting a wall when certain things were not happening. It started feeding into my insecurities of not feeling enough, not being good enough, not having enough time! I also didn't want to just pass through life checking the boxes. Look, clearly I just wanted it all loool.
I then hit a low point, just absolutely frustrated about where I was and tired of feeling like a victim in my circumstance and that is when I got the revelation.
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In my last Episode " Dear Queen", I mentioned that when I got my new notebook, I felt inspired to write down the full chapter of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 in its entirety and it took a completely different form in my mind. I recognized true success came from recognizing the season I was in and actively participating in it. That may include being frustrated, but also meant not rushing to get to the next before it was time OR involved building the business plan now, learning from others and not just stepping into a launch you may not be fully ready for. It's planning for the next but living in the now.
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"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..."vs 11.
So what does that mean? We are stuck in the matrix or we are pawns in this game called life that God plays for amusement? ( trust I've had these thoughts so you aint alone), no, instead it reminds us we do not have the foresight or the ability to see everything in play. As much as we plan, sow and build there really are no guarantees but we do so anyway because of the principle of seasons.
The principle being, that indeed what you do sow you will reap and that there is a set time for everything. This principle is not meant to constrain you but cause two things to hopefully happen 1. Seeking God for direction and 2. Having sensitivity to the season you are currently in. Now seasons can be described in a myriad of ways like a "season of singleness" or a "season of laying low" or a "season of action" but for the purpose of today's blog I'm going to be breaking it down into these seasons: Season of Sowing, Waiting Season and Harvest Season with the focal point of the Harvest Season.
So growing up in the church, one phrase that is heavily tossed around is
" This is your harvest season"
and the crowd always goes wild, everyone is excited like, Yassss we getting that house, that car, that spouse, that job etc. Bring out the champagne and cut the cake!!!
Yet!
One, it may not actually be your harvest season..so like this doesn't apply to you yet (sorry) lol. Secondly, a lot of times harvest season seems only to be materialistic and the only avenue to joy, which discredits and devalues the other seasons, causing many to move in haste. More importantly, no one talks about the work you have to do in the harvest season, or that harvest season is less about the end goal and more about removing what has matured and placing it in the environment where it can thrive. So many of us do not really understand what harvest season is about and as a result, we squander it , don't appreciate it or poorly manage it.
According to google, some root crops and tree fruit can be left in the field or orchard and be harvested as needed, but most crops reach a period of maximum quality—that is, they ripen or mature—and will deteriorate if left exposed to the elements. You cannot leave something that is mature in the same place that is purposed solely for growth. The longer you stay there, your potency deteriorates, your influence deteriorates, your goals stop aligning, a new frustration rises. You end up dragging out a good thing into a season it is not meant to be in and what was once good becomes a curse or a barrier in that season. The new Israelites could not stay in the wilderness past their mature point. They had to go to the next, to exercise their faith, but to also utilize what was matured in a setting where it would be useful. In that it produces a new seed of confidence needed for a next cycle.
You have to dig up the promises, you need to till the land, pick up the fruit, do the tasks, study the job, put up the posts, right the script, get the products, learn the copywriting, do the work related to the promise. Again the promise land is not a place of just sitting, rest does not refer to bliss, it refers to standing on the revealed promise. It is seeing the actualization of your faith being brought to life, it is the victory indeed but then a new cycle begins, you have to keep the land, maintain the land, enable it to be fruitful, till the soil. When the Israelites for example got to the promise land they had to still fight and claim the land, it wasn't just sitting there, however because it was the set time for them to live in the promise land they had the tools developed from the sowing and waiting season to be victorious in capturing and being fruitful in the land.
This is the principle of time and seasons.
We work in time and seasons and not in calendar years. Take the pressure off and envy no man.
It is important to be AWARE and SENSITIVE to the season you are in to know how to move accordingly. So if it is your season to REST, REST! If it is time to MOVE, MOVE! Lean into your season.
Harvest season is less about the end goal and more about removing what has matured and placing it in the environment where it can thrive.
There is work to be done in harvest season- stand on the revelation of the promise and work the ground
xoxo
