Five Ways to Make the Most of Every Season
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…”—Ecc. 3:1
As a young mom, I have heard this pithy saying, “The days are long but the years are short.” Now, as I stand on this side of my life, I can agree, but in the moment, it isn’t so helpful, is it?
This is where it helps to understand that God has created not only literal seasons governed by the sun and moon (Gen. 1:14) but also metaphorical seasons. As He has written the days in our book (Ps. 139:16) before the foundation of the world, He has also ordained the seasons in our lives:
Developmental seasons, like infancy, young adulthood, old age.
Life seasons, like college years, vocational years, and retirement.
Even seasons of pain through loss, grief, or suffering.
The nature of a season is they have a start and an end. They come and go. Our earthly seasons last for about 3 months and then are replaced by a new one, cycling over and over through the years.
Developmental and life seasons are not cyclical (though sometimes we can feel like we’re back in junior high again at certain points!) but they still have a limited duration. They may last for years, but they usually pass as we mature or move to the next season.
However, what do we do with seasons that are overwhelming, painful, and hard—and don’t pass?
There are some seasons in life that may never change. An unexpected accident that changes your life forever. Chronic illness. For us, it was bringing in a child with disability into our family.
What I have discovered is that even with this life-altering event or change, there are still seasons.
There is the season of figuring out what in the world just happened (?!??!?).
There is the season of survival—trying to keep your life together without losing your sanity.
There is the long and slow journey of learning to live with your new circumstances or verdict.
And finally, there is the season of learning to trust the Lord’s goodness despite the ongoing difficulty and praising Him still.
Whether you are going through a short-term season that you know will one day change or a long-term interminable season where your life is forever affected, here are five ways that have helped me to make the most of it.
1.Abide in the Vine
As branches of the true Vine, we must stay attached to Him (John 15:4, 5). If we desire fruitfulness in our lives in every season, there is no other way.
One way that has helped me is to build a trellis of spiritual disciplines that God uses to help keep me close to Him, things like Bible reading and application, prayer, and Scripture memory.
In addition to personally connecting with God, it is also important not to hide yourself from community. One of the ways God often meets us is through connections with others—friendships and even counseling have been ways God has drawn me closer to Himself.
What are some spiritual disciplines you need to reinstate? Or if you have a strong trellis already, how might they help give you purpose and direction even if God feels distant?
2. Live In the Present, Focused on Eternity
In C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, the chief demon Screwtape advises his nephew to keep his “patient” focused on either the past, which cannot be changed, or the immediate future, with its fearful unknowns.
He explains why:
“The humans live in time but our Enemy destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present — either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure.” (emphasis mine)
If Screwtape is correct (and I think he is at least on the right track), then the first step of experiencing the eternal life we long for and are saved for, is to simply face each present moment in the presence of our eternal God.
We learn to bear the challenges, the instability, the overwhelm, and even the pain of our season with Him, learning to see Him with us in the midst of it.
It may not take away the difficulty, but this is where He is, with all of who He is. And when He is there, with His strength, grace, power, love, goodness, fortitude, self-control, peace—there we will be able to taste a bit of eternity, even when the season is hard.
Where are you tempted to get frozen in the past or wrapped up in knots about the unpredictable and unseen future? How would focusing on eternity be different than focusing on either of these? What would that look mean or look like?
3. Look for Special Opportunities in the Midst of This Season
Just as winter is the time for making snowmen and sipping hot chocolate and summer is for swimming and outdoor fun, there may be certain benefits to particular seasons. We may need to ask God to help us see them, for we are usually prone to only seeing the negatives.
For example, in the first year of nursing my babies, I discovered an opportunity to read many books (now you can even listen to them!). Or during COVID, many of us learned to make the most of our times together during the stay-at-home season.
What are some things this season affords for you? If you are laid up in bed, what can you do that you couldn’t while you’re up and about? There are many things that require us to slow down—are there some of those things you can enjoy now?
4. Plan Your Next Steps
When we first adopted our daughter, I was in a tailspin. There were countless doctor visits, educational consultations, and simply figuring out a toilet schedule for her so we didn’t have accidents all day.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have coached myself to plan by:
Preparing in advance for the new season I would be entering. I would have asked more questions, found out more information, instead of blithely (or more accurately, pridefully) going in blind.
Focusing on what was most important instead of trying to keep my life going as if nothing changed. The fact was, my life did change and I could not longer do all that I once did. I wish I had intentionally chosen a few things to focus on and then added things back once those were established.
Only planning for the next step and not trying to deal with her whole life. I worried a lot about tomorrow, even though Jesus told us not to be (Matt. 6:34).
How can you make a plan, either for the next season coming up? What will you focus on?
5. Do the Next Thing
This is so helpful when you feel overwhelmed. When I simply do the next thing, no matter how seemingly insignificant, I effect a change that sets me in a different position or place to do the next step. From here, I do the next thing, which enables me to take the next step, and so on.
Sometimes when the road to recovery seems so long or the season feels unending, taking the next step is our part of working out our salvation (Phil. 2:12). As we trust the Lord and take a step, we are one step nearer to our destination.
What is the one next step you need to take?
What If This Season Will Never End?
This is a question I have asked myself once we realized what we were up against when we adopted our daughter. After we got over the painful reality, these five things have helped me to start moving forward.
As a teenager, we are finding that Anah has become more difficult, not less. The years have not made it easier for us as we are now dealing with the hormones of a teen in the developmental season of the “terrible twos.”
If that is the case, then I could hope that, like my other children, Anah will one day outgrow this stage. But even if she doesn’t, hope in Christ gives me something better: that one day, she will be made new.
I am not going to presume God’s grace on her life, but I know He will be fair to her in her disability. I will keep trusting that He will deal with her justly in the end.
These hard days and seasons—which we anticipate will span the rest of our days here on earth (hers or mine)—will come to an end when eternity begins. For those of us in Christ, we can be certain that there, the best season is yet to come.
The hard ones will no longer torment us.
The good ones will become even better and they will not end.
Until that day, may we faithfully persevere with our eyes fixed on Him, our lives entwined with His, as we take each moment one step at a time towards our eternal home.
