Scapes and Seasons

It’s amazing to me how easily we find ourselves pushing for the future. Especially when we’re young.

Right now, our household is a mix of kids, tweens, teens, and adults that some might say are fast approaching middle-age years.

My kids often mourn that they’re not yet in the next part of life. I remember feeling the same way as a teen and tween - wishing for that next exciting thing in life to happen - and wanting more than what was currently on my plate. Or, alternatively, I would wish that I had been in a more refined time - a time when things were a little more old-fashioned.

Even as a young wife and mother, I found myself not just looking forward to the future, but also somewhat longing for those times beyond where I was. There are days now when I wonder what life would have been like, had I been born in my great-grandmother’s era - she was born in the 1920s and lived through the Great Depression as well as WWII. Would I have thrived there? Would I have been challenged in ways that were easier to manage?

Now that I’ve gotten older, and hopefully wiser, I’ve realized something really important.
These times we’re in now? We’re in them exactly when God meant for us to be in them.

That’s right.
He’s decided that, for whatever reason, we’re supposed to be here. Right now.
That’s kind of amazing, right?

Look at the lowly garlic plant - like the garlic, each part of our lives is meant for something different too - first we have shoots, then the scapes (delicious!), but it’s not until the fall we can harvest the decadent bulbs. Some garlic types even take two years to harvest. Crazy, right?

So, don’t be in a hurry. Even if you feel like the season you’re in is hard, and frustrating. Maybe the valley you’re in is dry and desolate and lonely. But for His own reasons - and His alone- He places our paths before us - so at the proper time we’ll be where He needs us.

There is beauty in the early years of our lives, and in the middle years, and yes, even in middle age :) And while I’m quite looking forward to my future, I’m not going to spend my days wishing I was already there, skipping the beauty in-between.

(I am an amazon affiliate, some of my links may bring in income to support our family business.)