“As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” John 9:4

A few years back a woman who was a friend of Lilly and mine was on the verge of death due to a heart condition she had since birth.  Some people were telling her husband God was going to heal her and there was a huge push to see her healed.  There was such a drive behind it that it wasn’t peaceful.  Then Father showed my friend Bob Humphrey that God was soon going to be taking her home.  This ran against all the hype and popular charismatic teachings.  Bob shared with his friend, the woman’s husband, what God had shown him and said, “Don’t miss this season.”  The man knew that’s what God was saying and laid down his anxieties and realized this was not the season to run around looking for a healing but instead it was the season to make the most of his last hours with his wife and peacefully say good-bye.  Thank God he listened to what Father was saying.  We so often miss the season we are in because we place our ideologies and/or desires ahead of what Father is saying and doing.  I shudder to think of the intense remorse our friend would have had if he hadn’t listened to Father and embraced the season He was in and taken the time to say good-bye.

It is so important that we live in such a way that we are doing what Father is doing.  We need to be aware of the season we are in.  If it’s time to rest we need to rest and not be anxious about the next step.  If it’s time to work we need to work alongside of Father and cast off laziness.  If it’s time to downsize, we need to do so.  If it’s time to increase, we need to embrace it.  If you notice there is no formula here.  We live by doing what we see Father doing because our life is in Him.  The tragedy is that we have been trained to live by formulas and look to others to tell us what God is doing rather than seeing for ourselves the season in which He has us.

I was talking to my friend David the other day about how Father led many of us out of the system of religious obligation.  We observed how Father had many of us basically take a vacation from ”Christian work” because we had lived such driven lives apart from His rest.  Then David said, “The problem is for many the vacation never ended.”  Part of that could be laziness but it could also be the result of being trained to look for somebody to come and “crack the whip.”  In this new place of freedom Father doesn’t do that.  He simply nudges us and says, “Here’s what I’m doing.  You want to work with me?”  For people who are used to hearing the crack of the whip, that’s just too subtle.  But Father’s love for us is not based on our performance.  So long gone are the days of guilt being the motivator to get us to work.  Rather, His call to us to join Him in the fields is a call that echoes the desires He has placed in our hearts.  I’ve been so reminded recently of how our time here on Earth is so short.  It’s so important we don’t squander our time here, but instead look at our lives with eternity in mind.  Don’t miss the season you’re in!

This poem by a wise 14 year old named Jason Lehman called “Past Tense” comes to mind.

It was spring, but it was summer I wanted,
the warm days, and the great outdoors.
It was summer, but it was fall I wanted,
the colorful leaves, and the cool, dry air.
It was autumn, but it was winter I wanted,
the beautiful snow, and the joy of the holiday season.
I was a child, but it was adulthood I wanted,
the freedom, and the respect.
I was twenty, but it was thirty I wanted,
to be mature, and sophisticated.
I was middle-aged, but it was thirty I wanted,
the youth, and the free spirit.
I was retired, but it was middle-age that I wanted,
the presence of mind, without limitations.
My life was over,
but I never got what I wanted.

Loren Rosser