By Pastor Don Schatz
‘Tis the Season
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven….”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 New Revised Standard Version
“They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither.”
Psalm 1:3 New Revised Standard Version
There is a rhythm to much of life. Birth and death. Voting and election (It is voting day in much of the country today). Bird and animal migrations at rhythmic intervals. The sun rises and sets. The moon tirelessly repeats its cycles millennia after millennia. The tidal rhythm of the oceans. Turtles coming ashore for the night on Kauai, and returning to the sea the next morning.
There is more. The rhythm of the eternal season of God’s love. The ongoing rhythm of creation. The rhythm of Christ’s company–he is with us always. The rhythm of sin and forgiveness. The rhythm of escaping from spiritual darkness into the marvelous light that is Christ our Lord. The continuous rhythm of prayer. The rhythm of your devotional life. The rhythm of love shared with family, friends and brothers and sisters in the Church. The constantly crescendoing rhythm of the Only God singing his delight over his children.
Oh, of course there is more. Why should I do all the work? Spend time today recognizing and listing the rhythms of your life. The seasons of life themselves are rhythmic in many ways. That is not the same as monotony by the way. Not for the people of the Lord, who never tire of the Word of life, love, forgiveness, salvation, resurrection and eternal glory.
We are like trees planted by streams of water, yielding fruit rhythmically in its season. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, meekness, faithfulness and self-control. These are never out of season. This is the fruit that the Holy Spirit grows in you and through you as a blessing to others. Can you feel the rhythm? ‘Tis the season.
Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
