“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.”

James 5:7

Life is much more like a garden than a buffet line. We prefer the buffet line because it bypasses the waiting. The food is just there ready to be placed on our plates. We don’t have to think about the seeding and feeding that went into it. We are disconnected from the process of bearing fruit. We are far removed from the soil that it grew in. Nature still obeys the processes that God made. All created things are bound to seasons. We prefer to go straight to harvest time. No one longs for dormancy, the time spent in the earth. But, it is here where God does some of His best work. It’s invisible to our eyes because it is happening beneath the surface.
Jesus spoke about it this way, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). There is no life without dying. There is no sharing in the glory of Christ without first sharing in his suffering. Our lives must go through every season.

Every Season by Nichole Nordeman

Every evening sky, an invitation

To trace the patterned stars

And early in July, a celebration

For freedom that is ours

And I notice you in children’s games

In those who watch them from the shade

Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder

You are summer

And even when the trees have just surrendered

To the harvest time

Forfeiting their leaves in late September

And sending us inside

Still I notice you when change begins

And I am braced for colder winds

I will offer thanks for what has been and what’s to come

You are autumn

And everything in time and under Heaven

Finally falls asleep

Wrapped in blankets white, all creation

Shivers underneath

And still I notice you when branches crack

And in my breath on frosted glass

Even now in death, you open doors for life to enter

You are winter

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced

Teaching us to breathe

And what was frozen through is newly purposed

Turning all things green

So it is with you and how you make me new

With every season’s change

And so it will be as you are re-creating me

Summer, autumn, winter, spring