Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Season(s) of a year or life (01/13/11)
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TITLE: Well-Seasoned | Previous Challenge Entry
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01/17/11 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Unlike the cliché “when one door closes another door opens”, I found myself entering a different room without leaving the room I was in; both doors remained gaping open like my mouth. Hence, it has been my least favourite saying.
Work, study and ministry filled the past three years. I spent a lot of time focusing on others; something my grandmother encouraged me to do. I kept a busy but flexible routine so I could fit everything into my daily schedule. I had buried myself in my busyness to make a new part of my life blend with the old. I was on a mission. I enjoyed what I was doing and where it would take me. However, a sequence of unexpected events abruptly changed my daily routine—and my future.
My grandmother once told me that if you must serve up something different, you need different ingredients. Change can be hard to accept, especially when we are hurled into a direction or place we hadn’t expected. When these incidents become numerous we can easily find ourselves gorging on self-pity.
One of Grandma’s favourite recipes is one I tend to forget, yet one that I should use regularly. It goes like this:
Using an open vessel, place a spoonful of winter to extinguish those anxieties.
Sprinkle in some summer’s sun to clear away the clouds.
Add a generous dollop of spring for new opportunities.
Make sure the mixture is well-seasoned with promises from God’s Word.
Mix all the ingredients together with prayer.
Bake in a hot furnace for whatever time is needed.
Allow to cool before glazing with a nurtured layer of autumn rest.
Daniel 2:21 says, “He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.” (NIV)
I realize that if God can change the seasons and use me in the seasons of my life, then He’ll be also there to ensure all will proceed according to His plan. Going to a place where I’ll probably need thermal underwear in the winter months and local traffic jams are frequent, is not my idea of an agreeable change. However, if I am willing to be an open vessel and allow God to combine the right ingredients, and be well seasoned in His Word, I’ll experience His wisdom and His knowledge to create something different in this new season of my life.
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I love what your Grandma said; there is so much wisdom and comfort in it. Just as well too, because sometimes, just when we think we have it worked out, our Father throws another path on our roadmap like He has with you.
Sometimes, the Father’s instructions don’t make sense at the time, but they are always for our benefit, and for His glory.
You have a lot of changes happening Chrissy; big moves too. Thank you for reminding us through your own life, that God is in control ALL the time. :-)
Your grandma's advice is good. If we must serve up something different, we certainly need different ingredients. Thank you for sharing this. I certainly need to be an open vessel for God to combine the right ingredients.