Here in Australia we are just welcoming the warmth and long days that are summer. Bring on the blue skies, beaches, mango’s, frangipanni’s, bbq’s and pool parties! With Spring just behind us and 3 months of beautiful weather ahead life is looking pretttty good!

I heard a sermon last week, that really spoke to me. You don’t have to be Christian to understand how this apply’s to your life. Ben Windle spoke of how just as there are seasons in nature, so are there seasons in our lives.

Summer: harvest and joy, everything is going well. Happy days, new beginnings, everything falling into place. Just as all the other seasons, summer must come to an end at some time. Too much heat would scorch the earth and make the land dry up.

Autumn: cultivation, things are changing in your life. Some things falling apart even. Some things coming to an end, dying off.

Winter: in winter a tree looks dead from the outside. But on the inside of a tree for months, there’s growth, development, something is happening beneath the surface, waiting for the next season to unlock what has already happened on the inside.  Things could broken, the way ahead may seem dark and gloomy. You might feel cold and lonely, feel like you’re in a valley. A time of introspection. Winter brings life to spring.

Spring: new life, breakthrough. New opportunities are showing themselves. You can see a way ahead and hope for a bright future.

Take a minute to stop and think. What season of your life are you in now?

Submit to the season you are in. We tend to to always be looking ahead to the next season – it’s so cold, I can’t wait for summer. It’s so hot, I can’t wait for winter. The same as we can’t just change the seasons of nature, nor can we up and change the season in our life. You don’t walk out the door and think I’ve had enough of this cold winter –  and declare “let it be summer”. It doesn’t work like that. You can spend alot of time and energy trying to fight the season, change the season. Submit to the season you are in.

God is with us in every season. Whether you believe in God or The Universe or a Higher Power, you are never alone in the season you are in. You never walk alone.

Every season has a purpose.  The most challenging seasons are the ones where you will learn the most and grow the most. At the time they are the seasons you will hate the most. But looking back they will be the seasons that something incredible happened in your life. They will be the seasons that taught you what you needed to know, to be doing what you are doing now.

Every morning is a fresh beginning. Every day is the world made new. Today is a new day. Today is my world made new. I have lived all of my life up to this moment to come to this day. This moment, this day, is as good as any moment in all eternity. I shall make, of this day, each moment of this day, a heaven on earth. This day, is my opportunity.

If you are interested in listening to any of Ben Windle’s teachings, you can find his pod-cast’s here.