Have you even been somewhere in summer, where it was so hot that you wished that it was winter? Or it was so cold in winter that you wished it was summer? I have talked to so many people over the years that are not content with their current season and that their hope is to find the skip button to move to the next one.
For the last 11+ years, I have had the privilege of working in youth ministry with hundreds of youth, then two years ago my wife and I felt the winds of change that led us to a new city and switching roles. Since then I have become a stay at home dad and full time college student while my wife works full time and travels. I went from meeting with leaders and young people, throwing dodge balls at teens and feeling successful, to making dinner for the family, drowning in homework and putting my parenting skills to the test, at a new level. While my goal in the following words is not to tell the reader all my complaints, it is to point out that though each season does not look like we might want it to, our ability to fully embrace it could be the difference in how we enter the next season. I have been through days and weeks where every day I had to remind myself, that this season is leading towards something greater, but if I checkout or try to skip it, firstly I’m missing something vital, and second I’m no longer thriving but just surviving. I love to dream big, and I really enjoy seeing dreams come true, yet if dreaming takes away my ability to embrace today, then I believe I am going to have a hard time fulfilling any dreams… A great example is of this is David in the Bible.
The prophet Samuel comes to David and anoints him King over Israel, at a young age, but it isn’t for another 15 years until David will actual sit on the throne and be recognized as the King. In that time, David defeated the bear and the Lion, he killed Goliath, escaped Saul’s plot to murder him, and even resisted an opportunity to kill the man hunting him. David even bounced back from some pretty painful mistakes, but the common thread in all these moments is that he was able to fully embrace the season he was in. If we were to break David’s life down, we could identify different keys he received in each season preceding his reign as King. A few including: Loyalty, working through pain, following God, repentance and so much more. All these qualities represent a man that learned to fully embrace the season he was in.
I can still remember going through a season of change and struggling with what was coming next, and wondering when that particular part of the journey would end, and one day while expressing this with Danny, he told me… “I would be more concerned about who you will be, than where you will be.” These words have followed me ever since and have everything to do with today. The person I’m working on today will show up in the next season, yet if I’m more concerned on the where, place or position, that becomes my focus and disenables me from fully engaging in my current season.
We cannot always choose where we find ourselves, but we can choose how we engage and position ourselves in it. My hope is that this will simply encourage those going through a hard season, or remind someone looking for that something great in the future, to not miss the journey on the way there.
Peace,
Ben