Learning Lessons from the Four Seasons

 

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

The church where I am a member hosts an event for people with memory problems once a month. The aim is to support the carers and individuals increasingly struggling with cognitive-related issues. It’s a great morning and seems to benefit all who come.

At the start, someone does a brief session to ensure everyone is orientated - time, day, month, year, place, season, etc. Most of us need help identifying the season at certain times of the year (usually at the beginning and the end of each season). 

In the United Kingdom, we have four clearly defined seasons, as do ‘most countries at a similar latitude (the same distance away from the equator) to the UK. Other parts of the world may only have two seasons - a winter and a summer, or a wet and a dry season 1. I find it fascinating that despite all the climate change that is suggested, discussed and debated, in the main, seasons are still the same as defined in one of the oldest records of human history, the Bible. Genesis chapter 8 verse 22 records the promise of God to Noah (after the worldwide flood - another event that reoccurs in the history of many ancient civilisations) - ‘While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease’.

We should be grateful for seasons. We need the rainy seasons as well as the dry. Nighttime is essential if we are going live well in the daytime. Seasons were designed for our well-being. So, it is with us as individuals.

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

The Bible often uses the seasons to teach us lessons for living and to prepare us for dying. Autumn reminds us that the summer is past and the winter is coming. Many animals characteristically prepare for winter. They gather food in the shorter daylight hours and prepare for the long winter ahead. Can I ask you a personal question? Are you ready for the final season of life when it comes? Here are a couple of verses from the Bible that will help you make that vital preparation - 

‘Seek the LORD while he may be found;

call upon him while he is near;

let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon,’  Isaiah 55. 6.7.

Autumn may remind us that winter is coming, but Spring is all about new life. God willing, I will write about Spring in more detail on another occasion. Still, please be clear that for those who have made preparation, there is new life and hope through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.  

 1. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/met-office-for-schools