Seasons

This week I have been thinking a lot about seasons. I think coming home to Fall then quickly Winter in full effect helped get those thoughts started. But it is much more than times of the year. Life is filled with seasons. Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes comes to mind which begins:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

I look back on my short (at least it seems like it has flown by) 37 years revolving around the sun and I get lost thinking about all the different seasons of my life. High school seemed like the best times possible while I was living them. Sadly, so many people still think that is true long after they leave. I think of past relationships and think how everything seemed perfect. Why did it have to end? Oh yeah, there was all that other stuff I don't like to remember. Those are the reasons we each had to leave. I remember when I graduated from college and started my hedge fund. Everything was awesome! It was performing well and I loved going into the office to do something that few people could do. Then the market changed and things changed. It wasn't as fun anymore. There came a time that I had to close the doors and move on to something different.

Leaving and moving on is hard. Really hard. If it's not, then whatever I am leaving probably didn't mean much to me. Here's the thing about seasons: you have to close one to get into another one. It sounds so simple but for some reason I (and I'm betting most everyone reading this) want to have my cake and eat it too. There is no promise that each new season will be as awesome as the last one. As a matter of fact, I can pretty much guarantee some of them are going to be lame. But I also know God is always working.

Back in August, I was planning to share about friendships at The Hill (Chapel Hill's high school youth group.) The day I was supposed to share, the Lord put it on my heart to share my story and show how God was always working in each part of my life even when I couldn't see it. I had no idea who would get anything out of it but I went with it. It was actually a great reminder for me to carry forward: God has always worked for good and He always will in my future. I'm sure others got something from His message that night but it may have been mainly for me.

Back to seasons, it makes the travel through the good and not-so-good seasons so much easier remembering that God is always working. I don't need to understand why certain doors close and others open. I just need to continually thank the Lord for doors. He's always good like that.