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Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 proclaims, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.” We are blessed to live in an area with four distinct seasons. During this time of the year, we prepare ourselves for a spectacular show of colors. Trees turn deep red, vibrant orange, and bold yellow. We know that soon those colors will fade, and those beautiful leaves will fall. The mountains will soon be barren until the white and silent snows of winter fall. Just when we are tired of the cold and snow, the small green buds form on the tree branches. Spring has sprung! Soon the chilly spring transforms into a hot and humid summer. We soon grow weary of the heat, and we welcome the first days of cool fall air. The cycle repeats year after year.
Our lives follow this same pattern. Spring is the birth and the newness of life. We learn to roll over, crawl, and walk. There’s so much we cannot do on our own. We depend on our parents. Eventually, we go to school for the first time. The spring really flies by! We begin to drive a car and experience a bit more freedom. We begin to make plans for the SUMMER! At some point during this period of life, Christ will present himself to us. He will knock on the door of our hearts. This is called the age of accountability. Ecclesiastes 12:1 states, “Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” The best time to begin a relationship with Jesus is when we are still in spring or what we call our youth. Romans 6:4 says, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” No matter our age, a Child of God should walk on the springtime of life. Soon spring turns into summer or what is called the fullness of life.
We begin to carry out the plans we made back in the spring or maybe all new plans are created. We go to college, work a job, get married, have children, and buy a home. Our lives are in full bloom. Here we can do some great works for the Lord. Jesus did His most amazing works upon the earth from 30 to 33 years of age. Summer is what we all strive for and the season that we spend our childhood awaiting. During the summer, our lives take shape, and we fulfill our purpose. Summer passes quickly and our body begins to show signs of fall.
Our hair turns gray and white, and the outward man begins to perish. Arthritis and other ailments seem to take over our once extremely strong and healthy body. 2 Corinthians 4:15 says, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” Although our flesh begins to perish, God renews our inward man. It is always springtime in the souls of God’s children. Fall or autumn is the matureness of life. It is in the fall that we begin to harvest the crops that were planted in the late spring and early summer. We begin to slow down. Our body begins to change. Proverbs 20:29 proclaims, “The glory of young men [is] their strength: and the beauty of old men [is] the gray head.”
At some point during the fall, we know that winter is imminent. Winter brings about death. The darkness and coldness of life for the flesh. The pale horsemen of death will soon make an appearance. Revelation 6:8 says, “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.” We begin to die from the moment we are birthed into this world. Ecclesiastes 12:7 states, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” The soul will live on in the presence of God, but our flesh and blood will return to the earth. 1 Corinthians 15:50 proclaims, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”
You may think that death can only come in winter, however, death can make its way into any of the seasons. We can easily see death in spring, summer, and fall. We must be ready to meet God at any point. We must make every day count. The seasons of life are short. On our tombstone will be a date of birth and a date of death, and in between these two dates will be a dash. This dash represents the seasons of life. Life is but a vapor that appears for little time and vanishes away. Are you savoring every moment? Are you following Christ? Are you ready for winter? As you look in the mirror, take notice of your life, and make a conscious decision to live every day as if it were your last.
(Brandon Young is pastor of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton)