
Nature shows us that at a specified time a new season is heralded in and we see visible evidence of this in the world around us. The arrival of daffodils suggest that leaves will soon populate the trees telling us that Spring will soon be here. But can this be applied to human sphere? Speaking as someone who believes hugely in seasonal timing, I would say yes.
“Oh heck what is this mad Blogger banging on about now?” I hear you say. Well a couple of weeks ago I would have asked the same question if I had heard them burbling on about such an abstract notion. However, what I recently discovered, as I moved into a fairly hectic season after a period of relative, uneventful calm, is that the new challenges in this season where being prepared for in the last season.
Weirder and weirder. Ok, those that know me will tell you that I was a fairly impetuous youth (and you may have deduced that too if you have read my book) and knuckling down taking orders from wiser, more experienced people, who might not always be right, but were in authority over me nonetheless, was not in my gene pool. Or so I told myself and those around me.
Then I discovered 1 Peter 5:5 in my Bible (Amplified) “…God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)—[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.” In other words anyone who thinks they’re a self-made woman (or man) has a rude awakening heading their way.
Let me tell you for a Christian that can be a pretty scary revelation… assuming you get it. And I didn’t, not for the longest time. The whole idea of humility just seemed ‘sappy’ to me. However, over time I learned that humility isn’t about cow-cowing to everyone, being a doormat, or always taking the back seat. Its about being a good servant, especially to those in authority over me.
In the early years of my career I rose fairly quickly up international developments ranks and I suspect gained a swollen view of my own abilities. Three redundancies later and few years in the low paid, no paid, wilderness brought me face to face with the possibility that whatever abundant life I though God had planned for me, might not come to past after all. Taking direction from teachers and wiping snotty noses in the pre-school I volunteered at; or responding with compasion to patients shouting at me because I couldn’t give them an immediate appointment with a GP at the call centre where I worked was not my ideal career choice. However, what I came to realise, or rather had pointed out to me, was that I was being humbled under the mighty hand of God, and in due time, I would move into the next season. Whenever that might be.
Hum, “Due time” is God’s time, and I am told by Bible Teachers that means when God knows we’re ready, not when we think we’re ready. That’s a tough call for an impetuous imp, but I am learning. More often than not, the hard way.