May's Spiritual Journey: Connecting with the Season

Though we are cautioned to keep our distance, New Jersey parks have reopened as of May 2, and  on May 3 we went for a walk. What a glorious spring day...

I am thankful that God is in charge of spring. The sky, the leafing branches, the fresh air, the blossoms. Spring has been a constant comfort, always uplifting and invigorating.You don't see people in this picture, but in fact I had never seen so many people in the park. We felt connected with nature and smiled and nodded to each other. It was a community of sorts.

A Time for Everything: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

3 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

I came across this commentary in the Celtic Daily Prayer:

I have observed through the years that most Christians have little understanding of the word "season." Our Lord is a seasonal God; He comes, He departs. His faithfulness never changes, but His seasons do! There are seasons when the tree is green, there are seasons when it is dry, and seasons when, for the life of us, the thing looks dead. Now, does this mean you are serving some capricious God who comes and goes by whim? Or, could it be, that it is only through seasons that true growth may come?

Perhaps this season of Covid offers us time to reconsider, to wrestle with God, to redirect our energies, to reshape our thoughts. The season of Covid surely will be remembered as a time for letting go, for grieving and lamentation. Even in the midst of suffering and grief, I believe that God hears us and is near. And as the season continues, I begin to wonder...perhaps it will also lead to new growth. Perhaps a profusion of new connections will blossom from this time. When I commune with the world outside, I can only be hopeful.

Thanks to Ramona for hosting our Spiritual Journey Thursday group. Find her and the rest of the group at Pleasure from the Page