Daniel 2: 20-21a “Praise be to the name of God forever and ever; wisdom and power are his.   He changes times and seasons…”

Nelson Mandela: “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered”.

When last have you gone to the place where you grew up? Come with me to the place I grew up. Walk with me along the banks of the river and listen to it rushing by after a rainstorm. Climb with me up some steep mountains to carry soup for some family friends. Stroll with me to other districts to visit friends and talk with people on the way. Then take the climb up the road to the view of hills where the memories of laughter, family, friends, tears and joy overtake us like a flood.  This community in your mind’s eyes is just the way you left it.

Notice however, the difference between then and now.  The community that once was so big appears smaller and quainter. The community leaders that you once thought invincible are frail human beings with flaws just like you and me. The shops and stores that were so large when you were a child now seem smaller and some are even frozen in time. You can see yourself way below the shop counter ordering a patty, coco bread and box juice for lunch with fifty cents and you wait for your change.  WOW!! How times have changed…the people, the value of the money, even the patty, coco bread and juice taste and look different.

BUT!!! The most outstanding change for you is YOU. You are no longer a young child.  You have undergone many change and transition moments within and without.   Your perspectives and experiences have changed.  You have been to other communities, different parts of the world even.  This is due to, paraphrasing Nelson Mandela, that your thinking has been altered due to the passing of time. 

At this the beginning of a new season of our lives, let us praise God Almighty who in His wisdom and power does not let us remain in the same season but changes it.  God does not only change the weather or fruit patterns but He also changes the seasons of our lives.  Sometimes we are in the mountain season and He changes it to the valley season.  Sometimes He changes the dry season to the wet, from joy to pain, the happy to the sad, the mourning into dancing, and the season of the spirit of despair and heaviness to the garment of praise.  Only when we surrender to the God of our season will we be able to appreciate and learn the lessons that each season brings.  Whatever season we are in, let us know that God seeks to alter our thinking and turn our minds towards Him and to the extension of GOD’s Kingdom of justice, mercy, peace and love. These principles of God’s vision are relevant no matter what season we are in. Let us help each other in this new season.

PRAYER

God, this is a new season that you have called me to.  In each season there are lessons for me to learn and issues to settle as you seek to alter and change my thinking and thus my action.  Help me to perceive what season I am in and learn, apply and change accordingly.  I bless you that through all the changes that life brings you are with me.  For Jesus sake, Amen.