The weather can be a really funny and tricky thing. Over the past week it’s been absolutely beautiful here in England with clear blue skies, marvelous sunrises and sunsets, and a gently blowing breeze. However, on several of these beautiful days when I stepped out of my room and actually went outside I found that it was actually right about 0 degrees Celsius. They were still beautiful days but not quite what I was expecting. All around things seem ace but then that gently blowing breeze helps yo even more so feel the biting cold.
That’s kind of been my experience over the past several weeks in lots of areas of life. This week when I was talking with my good friend Don, I found myself rambling as he and I often do. What’s brilliant though is that in the midst of rambling thoughts and incomplete sentences we are able to share our hearts and figure out how we need to pray for each other. As I was rambling on and on this past week I made a statement along the lines of “I think I am realizing that I’m in a different season of life than I thought I was in.”
Going back to my weather analogy, from inside of the house looking outside it would be easy for me to think it’s a beautiful spring day. It would be foolish to get dressed in my favourite pair of khaki shorts, my Chaco’s, a gray t-shirt, and maybe a light jacket and then head out for the day. Since we don’t really have the telly or radio in our house, I’d need to check the weather forecast or better yet, step outside so I’d know how to be prepared for the adventures of a new day. Sometimes it’s really easy to get the seasons confused. I know some of you are thinking I’m really daft because it’s February and I’m in England, but just keep reading.
What I’m learning is that God has me in a different season of life than I thought I was in or perhaps that I want to be in. It’s taken me several weeks to figure this out and now I feel I’ve had one of those “ah-hah,” the lights just came on kind of moments.
Suddenly, so many of my frustrations and struggles are beginning to make sense. It’s as if God has said to me “hold on a second there cowboy, I’m not quite done with you yet” or “do not pass go, do not collect $200.”
Last Monday night at a bible study at the Manchester Cathedral called “Seven” (we’ve been studying the 7 “I am . . . .” statements of Jesus) the teaching lesson was on John 15:1-17 which is about Jesus as the true vine. The first four verses of this passage read:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned for greater fruitfulness by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me” (John 15:1-4, NLT).
I added the italics because when I read that verse, a passage I’ve read countless times, it suddenly made sense. I thought that God had me in a fruit-bearing season and it was in that moment that God revealed to me that I was actually in a pruning season. The struggles, frustrations, joys and pains, ups, and downs now all made sense, sort of.
So, now that I feel I have a clearer view (clear as mud, so shall I say a less muddy view?) of the season or weather of my life, I’m excited to see where my journey takes me next. I have the blessing/curse of a melancholy personality so the last few weeks have been interesting to say the least.
As we go about our day, may we strive to live out the words of Jesus as he closes this passage in John 15:
“. . . . I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. I command you to love each other” (John 15:16-17, NLT).
On the journey . . . .
Chaddington
I was reading in James 1 this morning. I was impressed with how James described his readers…”facing trials”, “lacking wisdom”, potentially “double-minded and unstable”, “tempted”, “dragged away and enticed”, as ones “ridding themselves of moral filth and prevalent evil”, and as those recoiling against the “world’s pollution”…who said life was easy? So abiding is key. James encouraged his readers (me) to trust in God, asking him for what I need, persevere, shut up and listen (a hard one for me) and focus on others. This side of paradise, at least for me, winter seems a lot longer than summer…but I am learning that it doesn’t have to be that way on the inside.
Hey my co-melancholy friend! It’s great to know that your path is a little more clear. I’ve been going through one of those searching times too. Sometimes all I can do is pray and ask God for some clarity.
Thanks for giving me more to think about.
Love ya, praying for you always.