Ark Valley News - Change is one constant

Change is one constant
Last Updated: September 07, 2017

I caught Mary examining her sweaters early this morning. The seasons are about to change again, and she knows it. On Monday, the thermometer read 100. Our dog has a favorite place in the shade, and he stayed there, panting, half asleep, most of the day. Even so, things are about to change. The land is turning from green to brown.

But today, the day after Labor Day, the 6 a.m. temperature was 48 degrees. We may reach the mid-70s. I like to hang on to summer, so I said to Mary, “Summer's not over, yet." The temperatures may yo-yo back and forth for a bit, but despite what I want, the season will eventually change.

The seasons teach us something. Summer does not have the last word, nor does winter, or spring or fall. Seasons don't get to stay, because they are only seasons. They are temporary. Each season gets its allotted time and then it gives way to another season.

Eventually, the geese will fly south and the leaves will change color. Whether we like it or not, winter will come. Eventually, freezing will release its icy grip, the snow piles will shrink, and before long the warm spring rains will appear, and more seed will be sown into the ground in hopes of another harvest. With the passing of time, life will appear from what was once dead, frozen soil.

Even now, there are roots, bulbs and seeds that men and women have planted. We think of them as dead. They are not dead! One day they will burst through the soil in a blaze of color.

The same is true for those we have loved who are now buried. To say, “They are dead," would not be true. Instead, we might say, “They are waiting for a change of season."

When we look for God, we see him, hanging naked on a cross, an illustration of all that the world offers.

But the story doesn't end there. Time goes by, three days and two nights to be precise, and God answers our cries. For out of the cold and bleak darkness of death there is the promise of a blooming, a transformation, a resurrection.

If the seasons teach us anything, it is that death does not have the last word. In the fullness of time, it will be spiritual spring again. Life will burst forth for believers, just as Christ burst from the tomb. To be ready for that change in seasons will require more than a sweater.

“To everything there is a season…a time to be born, and a time to die…" (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

Chuck Terrill is pastor of Valley Center Christian Church. Reach him at chuck@vcchristian.church or at 755-1233.