I have been one that likes music for as long as I can remember. Different genres of music can be found on my playlists and radios: rock, rap, country, swing, folk, etc.

I have been accused a few times in the past of being born in the wrong generation because of my music taste. I’m on the tail end of Generation X (born in 1979). While my childhood was in the 1980s, and my teen years in the 1990s, if I had my choice of music, it would probably be the classic rock of the 1960s & 70s.

In 1965, a group known as The Byrds released their hit song “Turn, Turn, Turn.” The song would go on to be #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 by end of that year. This song is taken just about word for word from the English version of Ecclesiastes 3.

In this passage from the Bible, we see King Solomon sharing some of the wisdom that God had granted to him as he recognized the reality of seasons. King Solomon saw that there was a time and place for everything under the sun. There were even seasons in life.

Contrary to what we may experience where I live, there are typically four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Around here (north Mississippi), we see most of these seasons regularly. Each season gives way to the next and moves on again.

Some people see seasons in life. They could think of spring as the childhood years of life where children are born and grow at speeds like no other time in their lives. Summer might be those adolescent years where you are carefree and enjoying life. Autumn would come with adulthood as one seeks to settle down and begin to reap the harvest of what was sown in prior years. Winter would represent the elder years of our lives where we begin to slow down and rest more.

I can see that picture playing out easily. I believe that there are many who share that picture of how the seasons may look in life. I think this because I hear people say that it’s time for a younger group to pick things up and do them because they’ve done their time. These would be those who see themselves as in the winter season.

The problem with this picture is that it is a linear picture of the seasons that plays through one time. In this picture, the seasons play through one time and then they are done. What we see in nature is that the seasons are not so linear but rather circular. They pass from one to the other and then start again.

I have seen this circular picture of seasons in life many times. I can remember many springtimes where God started a new work in my life (salvation, called to ministry, marriage, parenthood). I have experienced the other seasons many times as well.

The one thing that the circular view of the seasons of life shows us is that no matter what season that you are in a new season is around the corner. As long as we are here on the earth and there is breath in our lungs, a new season will be coming. It may seem like certain seasons are longer than others, but the next season always comes.

With this in mind, it is important that we as Christians not get trapped into the thought that “we are done” and just waiting on the bus to take us to heaven. If God were truly finished with His work in us, we would not be here on this earth. We would be with Him in heaven enjoying the eternal rest prepared for us from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34). The fact that we are still here on this earth proves that God is not done with us.  We may find ourselves experiencing a winter season of rest, but we need to be on the lookout for the spring that is around the corner.  It may be something completely new that the Lord has never done before in or with us.

Let us make sure that we are not checking out before we are supposed to.  Seasons come and seasons go, but we can be sure that God is working through each of them.