The man in his mid-forties had the worst case of mid-life crisis I had ever seen at the time and have not seen since. We had a casual acquaintance for about two months during a business transaction. He had recently left his wife, bought a sports car, was buying a new house, started going to the gym, bought a new wardrobe, and anything else that he thought could preserve his youth. He was limping the last time he came to my office to sign some paperwork. He quickly explained he was injured playing baseball with a group of teenagers. Knowing this would be our last contact, I chanced he would receive a bit of free counseling. “Wayne, you need to accept you aren’t twenty years old anymore and can’t do the same things you did when you were.” As he left, I could tell this made him angry. I heard later that he was still chasing his youth.
My challenge came when I was approaching fifty. I thought life would be over, but the day after my birthday, I was still alive. Since then, I have come to understand that God not only instituted seasons on the earth, He appointed man to various seasons of life. I am also learning it is easier to embrace our season than fight what we cannot change. No, that is not to say we buy a rocking chair, a fishing pole and go vegetate on the lake dock. We may retire from secular jobs or full-time ministries; however, there is no retirement from God’s Kingdom work. The LORD’s plan is that we advance to the next level or season and the ministry He has prepared for us.
God gave a parable through Isaiah that says we do not always plow, and we do not continually sow and cultivate, nor do we always harvest. The farmer knows that each season has a particular purpose. One season of our life merely prepares us for the next season. A farmer prepares his fields by plowing the ground, then he plants the seeds, next he cultivates his growing crops, then in the fall, he harvests the fruits, and finally in the winter season, he can rest and enjoy the fruits of his labor with the peace they will take him through the winter.
In Bobby Clinton’s classic book, The Making of a Leader, he takes the reader through the seasons of life. He shows that each season prepares the Christian for the next stage of life. As Christians, instead of a mid-life crisis, we are finally prepared to minister more effectively. At this juncture, God can move us into a role that matches our gift-mix with our experience so our ministry is maximized. Now, ministry is not based on just the book knowledge we have accumulated, but also the experiences through which God has taken us. Instead of academic theory, we have practical experience demonstrating the reality of God’s Word.
When Donna and I were married, we were in our early twenties, and part of my job was building and repairing television/radio towers. I had no problem constructing a 120 foot tower from ground up or climbing a 2000 foot tower for repairs. When we drive along the Interstates and I see all of the new phone towers, I often tell her there is a demand for experienced tower workers. I could work part time for a year and buy both of us new vehicles. She just gives me a piercing stare with a quick firm, “No.” She knows that season of my life has passed. I do not like admitting it, but I began wondering if she was correct the second time I lost my balance and fell off of a five-foot ladder.
Problems arise when we do not accept our current season and refuse to embrace it. Imagine a gardener ignoring the season and planting tomatoes in the snow, or a skier trying to slide down a grassy slope in the summer. Solomon wrote, To everything there is a season. . . (Eccl 3:1).
Young people in the beginning seasons of life are more prone to try and leap ahead to the adult season for which they are not prepared. The older we get, the more prone we are to resist embracing the next season. However, if we linger too long when seasons change; we may miss opportunities that God has for us in our new season. The young should embrace and enjoy their season of youthfulness. It will be gone too quickly. Adults should look forward to the next season that God has prepared. Embracing it will bring fulfillment to you and glory to Him.
Teaching at the University this semester confirmed that it is time for me to embrace a new season. After thirty years of academic bureaucracy, I must let go of that season and embrace a season of teaching through other methods, such as writing. God’s season for me now, is not plowing out new courses with the daily grind of the classroom, but ministering out of the experiences of my past seasons. God has made everything appropriate in its time…a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing (Ecc 3:11, 5).
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Life is never stands still. It marches forward – and it always does so through predictable seasons. For the young and the old, the most wonderful season of your life can be now, if you embrace your season.