“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone …” – Song of Solomon 2:11
Seasons Change
We are constantly in transition and always looking for the next season.
Our eyes move to and fro, never affixed in the present, darting forth into the known unknown of inevitable surprise. Spring follows winter and summer chases spring. Fall gains upon summer and then, it is winter again.
Though we have known each season many times before, we are always caught off guard. Though we have experienced all, it seems we have never been in the same place the same way at any time except this time. Each season is like something entirely new. “The Winter of ’53,” we declare, “now that was some winter.”
“But wasn’t that some summer?”
“Yes, but it was an even better spring.”
“But a bitter fall.”
Like each of our children, every season is unique and holds the promise of something new about seasons to reveal.
How could Solomon have known with such certainty that winter had passed and the rains had ceased?
He knew by the signs he had come to expect. He knew because it was the right time of year. He knew that for all of life’s unpredictability, there is a pattern and that pattern demands obedience at its core.
Winter simply does not last. Hard times will come again, but no hard time will endure forever. We will either live to see it dissipate and disappear or we will grow so strong in the midst of it that it will lose its biting power.
“Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. “ – Psalm 74:17
God has made the seasons of our earth and ordained the seasons of our lives. He has decreed that they be transitional and promised that in the midst of them all, He will be present.
That makes them all bearable.
These words were written as church bulletin devotional for churches who offer Master Sunday Bulletins to their congregations. May it serve as a source of encouragement to you today. You are welcome to copy this devotion for one-time non-commercial, local church, or educational use. Please include the copyright line printed below with any reproduction. © Master Sunday Bulletins 2012. All rights reserved. Published by Master Sunday Bulletins · Merri V. Dennis, Publisher · Thomas B. Sims, Author