I watched my parents drive away, and I felt a pang in my heart. They had just helped me settle into my new room at Penn State, where my next stage of life was about to begin. As excited as I was to start my studies, I was sad that things would never be the same. How I wished I could be with my parents forever. But that was impossible. The transition toward independence had been set in motion.

Since that day, I’ve had the same feeling on many occasions, wishing I could hold back time. But God has placed us in a continually changing cycle of seasons that we can never stop. First of all, there are the four seasons of the year. When Noah left the ark, God promised that he would never again interrupt the natural flow of summer passing into winter and then going back to summer. On and on, the cycle goes.

God has also set into motion the seasons of our lives. We move from childhood through the stormy teenage years to becoming productive adults, only to regress back to being as dependent on others as we were as children. The third chapter of Ecclesiastes poetically points out a time and a period for every activity under the sun.

Our ministries go through seasons as well. It would be great to be in a perpetual summer – when we can see the crops in the fields grow before our eyes – or in endless autumn – with its bountiful harvest. But those abundant periods would be impossible without winter and spring. 

Let’s take winter for a second. We may not see much happening, but a lot of activity is taking place under the surface. And then, at just the right time, it sprouts and breaks through and is finally visible.

If your ministry is in the deep of winter, take heart. Spring is coming. If you are in the middle of harvest time, rejoice, but don’t expect it to last forever. Let’s remember that God has a time and a purpose for every season.