A Time for Everything
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”
(Ecclesiastes
3:1 NIV)
As I
pass another milestone in my life—3 years of solo life—I find myself reflecting
on the lessons these years in the wilderness have taught me. I am struck by
Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes that there is a time for every activity
(3:1). Solomon outlines those activities in the following verses: birth, death,
planting, harvesting, killing, healing, breaking down, building up, weeping,
laughing, mourning, dancing, casting away what is unneeded, and gathering what
is needed, embracing, withholding embrace, seeking, losing, keeping, throwing
away, destroying, creating, silence, speaking, loving, rejecting, war, and
peace (vv. 3–8). This list is comprehensive! It is more than just a comparison
between what is positive and what is negative; it is a declaration that even
the hardest activities we encounter—death, break downs, grief, separation,
setting difficult boundaries, loss, getting rid of encumbrances that keep us
from worshiping God fully—all contribute to God’s purpose for us. Each activity
is not just the antithesis of another activity; weeping is not just the
opposite of laughing. Weeping has its own purpose, a truth I’ve had to learn to
accept in my own life. I’ve had to think deeply about casting away what is
unneeded to make room for the harvest of good things the Lord is bringing me.
I’ve had to learn how to create boundaries around harmful relationships;
unhealthy behaviors; thoughts that invade my peace and security in Christ; and
even good things that in and of themselves are not harmful, but for me in this
space are unhelpful.
I
recently read a story in my devotional that illustrates my reflections on these
last 3 years as I look forward to Year 4 and the blessings God is bringing to
me as a result of my dependence on Him:
John
Vincent, a Methodist Episcopal bishop of the late-nineteenth and
early-twentieth centuries and a leader of the Sunday school movement in
America, once told of being in a large greenhouse where clusters of luscious
grapes were hanging on each side. The owner of the greenhouse told him, “When
the new gardener came here, he said he would not work with the vines unless he
could cut them completely down to the stalk. I allowed him to do so, and we had
no grapes for two years, but this is not the result.” There is rich symbolism
in this account of the pruning process when applied to the Christian life.
Pruning seems to be destroying the vine, and the gardener appears
to be cutting everything away. Yet he sees the future and knows that the final
result will be the enrichment of the life of the vine, and a greater abundance
of fruit.[i]
As I read this story, I realized that 3 years ago, God came
in and said, “I will work with you to continue to grow you, but first, I must
completely cut you down to the stalk.” The first year I was completely and
utterly dormant, reeling from the shock to my system of having been cut down.
The second year, I slowly began to grow again, building a much stronger root
system and stalk that would be my anchor for the future. This third year I
started bearing fruit—fruit that is far sweeter than any fruit I’ve ever known.
I am healthier, stronger, more confident, and poised for a new purpose and new
ministry. These years have been seasons that, if I take Ecclesiastes 3
seriously, were necessary and purpose-filled. Viewing them this way changes my
perspective on my suffering. Here is how I sum the “time for everything” I’ve
experienced since September 23, 2020 in three seasons: a time to be cut down, a
time to regrow, and a time to bear fruit.
A Time to be Cut Down
I did
not know I needed to be cut down on that sad day in September 3 years ago, but
as I’ve reflected on my life before and since, I can see why God had to “cut [me]
completely down to the stalk.” It was literally the only way He was going to be
able to show me His glory through rebuilding my life. Cutting down is the
process of removing the life-sucking parts of the vine that are slowly choking
out any nutrients and stifling the vine’s growth. Cutting down interrupts the
damaging growth process so a new and healthier growth can occur. For me, I
first had to hurt before I could heal. I had to confront some ugly truths about
myself and my relationship with God. It was painful at the time. I cried, I
ranted, I lamented. There were some very dark days as I was stripped down to my
roots and forced to lean into my relationship with God because that
relationship was all I had left. As the writer expressed,
It
is a comforting thought that trouble, in whatever form it comes to us, is a
heavenly messenger that brings us something from God. Outwardly it may appear
painful or even destructive, but inwardly its spiritual work produces
blessings. Many of the richest blessings we have inherited are the fruit of
sorrow or pain. We should never forget that redemption, the world’s greatest
blessing, is the fruit of the world’s greatest sorrow. And whenever a time of
deep pruning comes and the knife cuts deeply and the pain is severe, what an
inexpressible comfort it is to know: “My Father is the gardener” (John 15:1).[ii]
I call
this time to be cut down the gracious path of grief. It was in
those most heart-wrenching moments of pain and loss that I learned to shift my
dependence from myself onto God. There was no way I could restore my life on my
own. I needed my Master Gardener more than I had ever realized I needed Him
before. And He walked with me on that path, offering grace for my failures at
every turn, flooding me with life-giving mercy as He refused to remember my
transgressions. His “mercy was more”[iii]
than the wrongs I had done and without the grief I experienced from the cutting
down, I would not have understood “how lavish His grace or how faithful His
ways”[iv]
are to me.
A Time to Regrow
The
next two years were a time to regrow. It was a slow and painful process but God
was patiently building new systems of nourishment, new leaves, and buds that
would eventually become new fruit in my life. One of the major lessons I
learned in those years was that walking through the season is important.
My friend calls it the “solo experience.” I like that phrase because most of
the days I spent in the regrowth season I was required to experience alone.
Again, I had to learn how to depend on God more than on anything or anyone
else, and this lesson was best learned in a solo journey. Some important leaves
of truth emerged during this time of regrowth. In fact, these leaves are what
made it possible for the regrowth to occur. Here are a few:
- God is Sovereign
- God is Sufficient
- Support Systems are Necessary
- Seeking Therapy is Essential
- I am Stronger Than I Thought I was
- Soloing is OK
- Waiting on God is an Absolute
- God Hears and Answers the Cries of my Heart
Psalm 130 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in His word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning, more than the watchman for the morning.” This is the time I must put into practice what I say I know. This is the time I fully trust God’s Sovereignty. This is the time I say, “Your ways are higher than mine. I want mountains to move; You want me to climb. So I’m gonna trust You will work Your will in Your time. Your ways are higher than mine.”[v] And this is the time I step my toe in the Jordan,[vi] trusting that I won’t be swept under, that on the other side of this time of testing is a land overflowing with milk and honey.
A Time to Bear Fruit
As I
enter Year 4, I believe God has poised me for this time of bearing fruit. It’s
time for God to re-energize the life of the vine and to bring forth luscious
fruit filled with the sweetness of His companionship and hope. My branches,
supported by the leaves of learning I gained during the time of regrowth, are
just beginning to bud with God’s fulfilled promises. I have new direction, new
hope, a new outlook on life, and a new appreciation for the pain of my past. I
have learned to “trust in the Lord with all [my] heart and lean not on [my] own
understanding. In all [my] ways [I seek to] acknowledge Him, [trusting that] He
will make [my] paths straight.”[vii]
By far the biggest TRUTH I take into this new season with me is that God
is in the details of my story.[viii]
I have countless examples of how He heard the cries of my heart and is
answering even the prayers that I was too scared to utter. Each new revelation
of His care for the very minute parts of my story is a new budding fruit on my
vine.
Do I
still need the Master Gardener? Absolutely! I still need daily tending from His
Word, through prayer, and through the fellowship of other believers. God will
still be in the business of tending to the “suckers” that try to grow and
divert His life-giving nutrients from my life. This is why I must stay “rooted
and grounded in love” as “Christ [dwells] in [my] heart through faith.” His
promise to me is when I put my roots down deep into His soil, I will have
“strength to comprehend...and to know the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge...[and I will] be filled with all the fullness of God.”[ix]
This, then, is restoration and healing.
[i]
Miller, J. R. (2008). September 19. In L. B. Cowman & J. Reimann (Eds.), Streams
in the desert: 366 daily devotional readings (pp. 356–357). Zondervan.
(Original work published 1925)
[ii]
Ibid.
[iii]
Getty, K., & Getty, K. (2019, August 11). His Mercy is More [Song recorded
by Matt Papa & Matt Boswell]. On His Mercy is More. Getty Music
Publishing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxOApooUSFI
[iv] SovereignGraceMusic
(2018, July 27). How high and how wide [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-kof4NOGAQ
[v]
The Collingsworth Family. (2021, March 12). Your ways are higher than mine
[Video]. You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LDm8xB5ipQ
[vi]
Joshua 3:1–5 NIV
[vii]
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV, with personalized words
[viii]
Katy Nichole. (2022, July 6). God is in this story [Video]. YouTube
[ix]
Ephesians 3:16–19 NIV, with personalized words
