"For everything there is a season..."

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." -Ecclesiastes 3:1

I was recently chatting with a married couple new to Creighton and asking them what periods of abstinence from intercourse were like for them. Without hesitation she said, "the rhythm has been great for our marriage."

This got me thinking about rhythms and seasons. Here in Michigan we're gradually making the transition from summer to fall - hooray for cozy sweatshirts and apple cider donuts! I remember being equally as excited for the start of hot, sunny summer. So much of our human experience involves seasons. Weather seasons, seasons in your career, seasons in relationships, seasons in parenthood. One possible definition for a "season" is "a proper and suitable time".

Fall coffee

In helping a pre-teen child navigate a situation recently, we talked about the human reality that most anything is possible. But everything all at once, all the time is not possible. Or desirable. The rapid pace of our world and the instantaneousness of our culture sometimes makes this reality a little blurry for us. Because it does feel like you can have it all. All the time. At the same time. But that's not how we were created to live our earthly lives. We were created with a human body that moves through seasons, internally and externally. We exist within time which is abundant but finite.

Whether you're newly married or not, regular abstinence from intercourse can be challenging for married couples, no doubt. But it can also be very fruitful and can be a peaceful and fruitful rhythm in your marriage if you allow it to be. If you stop fighting the season God has placed you in, and instead radically embrace the reality of your season of life, you allow yourself to see the beauty in it.

I think part of maturity is learning, experiencing and embracing the fact that many trials and difficulties in life are not eternal, but part of a particular season. A hard part about seasons is that they are not necessarily a defined amount of time. But, an encouraging part about seasons is that they never last forever. As referenced in the Bible passage above, God created us to exist within seasons. May your experience of whatever season you're in in life be abundantly fruitful and if you're in a particularly difficult season, may you be encouraged by the thought that seasons do eventually change.

If you need more encouragement for the radical acceptance of a really difficult season, check out this amazing video!