Living in seasons

Summer officially ends for me tomorrow.

For my wife, summer ended two weeks ago when she officially returned to the classroom to prepare for a new group of third graders.

For my daughter, summer ended last week when her first grade year began.

For my son and I, it is tomorrow, when he starts preschool.

In our life-stage, our seasons revolve around our children, and for me, tomorrow begins a new season.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the benefits of living your life, “in seasons.”

Expectations define our attitude.

“All conflict and frustration comes from unmet expectations. If you want to avoid conflict or frustration, you either have to meet expectations or change them.”

The first pastor I worked for shared with me that piece of wisdom and I have treasured it ever since. When we think about life in seasons, one of the benefits of that is it helps us set realistic expectations for the seasons of our life.

The fact of the matter is that some seasons of our life are just more difficult than others. Some require more energy, passion, patience, and strength than others. It’s simply a reality of our lives. The end of summer for me means that life is about to be harder.

My schedule is going to be more stretched and my own attentiveness to staying on track with my work life and my home life has to be more elevated. Having a clear expectation about it helps me to adopt the right attitude for the season.

Seasons come and seasons go.

The second benefit to living in your life in seasons is that it helps you to stay afloat during the difficult seasons of your life.  This is particularly true of those seasons that come not because of a change in the calendar, but a challenge in our circumstances.

Last summer, I developed an unexpected love for running. It’s a great stress relief and I enjoy the challenge of pushing myself physically, but I’ve learned that the physical challenge is often not as hard as the mental hurdles you have to endure in running.

Two things I tell myself regularly when I’m out on a long are…

“If you can keep breathing, you can keep running.”

“You will feel good when this is over.”

Here’s the crazy part… I actually do feel great when it’s over! It’s hard sometimes to finish, but knowing that there is an end in sight helps me finish well.

Knowing that a season does not last forever is part of what helps us endure those challenging experiences.

Seasons of rest should be savored.

Maybe you are like me and you sometimes feel guilty when you take a break. You feel like if you have not been able to check off fifteen things from your to-do list, you have completely wasted the day. When I think about my life in seasons, it helps me to see that everyone needs rest, and when you are in a season of rest, that rest should be savored.

God actually designed us to experience a season of rest during every single week. The Bible calls it Sabbath, a day when we are instructed to not only rest, but to delight in that rest. It’s a day to savor God’s goodness and recognize that there is something holy and beautiful about rest.

Working hard is not the same thing as living well.

When I think of my life in seasons, it helps me to see the bigger picture about what my life is supposed to be about. From that perspective, I have a clearer understanding of how the work that I do in one particular season of my life can serve the much larger purpose of my life. This is particularly true for me as I begin a new season of my life tomorrow.

One of the things I lose every fall is being able to treat 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. as work hours. During the summer, I am able to get to the office early because my wife is home with our kids. The fall is different. I take my son to school every day and I take my daughter to school a few days a week so my wife can go to the gym.

When I look at that time lost through the lens of the short term picture of my life, it can be frustrating. I don’t have as much time. I’m losing some of my prime work hours… but what happens when I look at that time “lost” through the long term lens of my entire life?

You know the answer. It’s two hours with my kids. It’s two hours I get to spend focused on the primary goal of living my life well.

A few questions to consider…

• In what season do you find yourself right now?
• What expectations do you have for this season of your life?
• Are those expectations appropriate for this season?
• If you find yourself in a difficult season, what help do you need to, “keep breathing?”
• How can you help yourself remember that, “this too shall pass?”
• How well do your rest when those seasons present themselves?
• Do you have a regular time of rest each and every week? If your answer is no, why not?
• What practices have you developed in your life to help you stay focused on living well?