I’ve been told over and over that things in our lives happen in seasons. Not seasons like fall, winter, etc., or like football / baseball season, but more a period of time that contains an occupation, feeling, struggle, or whatever. It’s hard to distinguish one from another because you’re always in one and so we just revert to comparing previous seasons to one another and wondering when / how this one will end. I like this analogy. I prefer to think of it as connect the dots, but ya know, it’s all up to personal preference. While I like these little analogies, I can’t help thinking that this is a dangerous way to frame your life.

Now, notice I’m not destroying the whole idea, we just need to be careful how heavily we lean on it. If you’re always concerned about the previous seasons and waiting for the seasons to come, you could very easily miss the one you’re in. Plans are great and we need to look ahead, but it is more important to focus on what is right in front of you. If you are faithful with what you have now, you will continue to be faithful with everything else. We must realize that while the unknown can be quite scary, it’s not unknown to God. I could easily go ahead and reference Jeremiah 29.11 and talk about the plans God has for you, but too often we take that to mean a plan down the line; something bigger, greater than what we’re a part of now. Well did we ever stop to think that we are currently in his plan? That we are enacting big parts of it now? What if God doesn’t need to wait until we’re 30, 40, 50, etc. to do something with us? Hasn’t life already begun?

It’s a hard balance to create, but we need to simultaneously be patiently and excitedly be looking forward to what God has for us while we are devoting all we are to living in what he created us for right now. Heaven forbid we continue to look forward and miss the “big plan” because we’re not looking at what’s happening around us. I’m no expert, I’m not doing this right, but we’ve all got to work on it together and be aware of our surroundings. Each breath we take is a part of his plan—let’s use them.