Happy February, everybody! Can you believe that February is already here?

Where did January go? It all passed in a blur for me. But here we are, one week into February already.

This month marks one year since my nephew was diagnosed with an illness that almost stole his life. Understandably, there has been much reflection on where God has brought us from and how much we have seen Him do on our behalf.

As I’ve contemplated all the ups and downs of the past year, I’m reminded of an old phrase. It says, “The days are long, but the years are short”.

The older I’ve grown, the more I realize how much truth is in that simple phrase. In many ways it has become a sort of motto to remind me of how I want to live my life — simply, intentionally, purposefully.

As humans, we are constantly searching for “the next best thing”. Through seasons of life, it’s easy to become discontent. The grass always appears greener on the other side.

But here’s the thing — what good does it do us to get “the next best thing” if we miss out on the beauty of living the chapter we are currently in? Instead of bemoaning how long the season seems to be, what if we recognized just how short the season truly is in the masterpiece of our lives?

Maybe you are in a season of loss — those times when it feels like everything and everyone you love is slipping out of your hands.

Maybe it’s a season of waiting — long days waiting for God to show you the next step He has for you.

Perhaps a season of change, when nothing around you is stable.

The seasons are different for each of us, but we are all left with the same choice: enduring each day that seems to drag by, or thriving in every year that God gives us.

Here are a few ways God is teaching me to savor the years instead of simply surviving the days.

1. Remember How Short Each Season Is

Sometimes the seasons of life seem to stretch on for eons. It feels like we will be “stuck” in that season for the rest of our lives. No end seems to be in sight.

The truth of the matter is that seasons always change. They may not always change the way that we would desire or expect, but they always change. When was the last time you remember summer’s golden rays never transforming into autumn’s crisp breezes and fiery hues?

I mean, I get it. Where I come from, every season is more unpredictable than the last. Sometimes we have bursts of winter all the way into early summer. Other years, we have bursts of summer in the middle of winter. Sometimes it takes a little longer than usual for a season to change.

But regardless of how the season changes, it always does change.

Even in the midst of a season that is perhaps longer than others you’ve gone through, it is still true that it only lasts for a short time. When it finally changes, it’s gone forever. You’ll never have that same season back again.

How are you using this season to thrive and grow? Are spending your season longing and waiting for a better one to come or are you making this the best season it can be?

2. Remember That God Appoints The Seasons

Just as it is God who changes the physical seasons in our world, He is also the One who changes the seasons of life. Most of us are familiar with the passage in Ecclesiastes 3 that speaks of various seasons throughout life, but it is worth revisiting.

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

Every season we are placed in has a specific purpose. Sometimes that purpose is one that only He knows.

“And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” (Acts 1:7)

Jesus told his disciples that it wasn’t their place to know when the seasons would change.

We aren’t granted the opportunity to see the entire picture of our life, much less how our life fits into the masterplan of eternity. Yet many times we think we know what is best for us.

How can we presume to know what the best season for our life is, when we only see a tiny portion of the masterplan?

Regardless of the place God has you in now, you can rest in the knowledge that it is with purpose and He will change the seasons when the timing is right.

But for now, are you praising Him in the season He has you?

3. Remember Every Season Is Profitable

Most people have one specific season that they enjoy above the others. There are some who live for the first rays of spring sunshine, when the earth is waking up from its winter sleep. Others long for the warm summer evenings, listening to the crickets and bullfrogs.

But what if there was only one season? What if winter never came to provide a reprieve from the heat and drought of summer? What if we never had autumn’s dying leaves to replenish the nutrients in the soil that would enable the new life of spring to blossom?

Every one of Earth’s seasons serves a purpose that is profitable for us. The same is true in life’s seasons.

A season that you may not enjoy as much as another still has treasures to offer you.

Maybe God is teaching you to climb the mountain in front of you so that He can show you the view from the top. Maybe He is using your season of loss to remind you that He is all you need. Maybe He is taking you through the tumultuous waters to show you that He is the only Anchor.

Are you looking for ways God is using this season of your life for your good?

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Seasons are ordained for a purpose. They are appointed by the Hand of God. He wants to see us thrive in them — not just survive them. Life is constantly changing. We don’t know when the seasons will turn, or indeed how long we will be granted to live the season we are in now.

The days are long. Life has ways of stressing us and wearing us down. It leaves us just trying to get through another 24 hours. We wonder, in some moments, if we will make it to the end of the day.

But then we look back at the years that have fled away and we wonder where time has gone.

All those long days we were simply surviving became a year that slipped through our fingers faster than we ever thought it would.

The key to savoring the years starts with savoring every moment of the days we don’t think we’ll survive. Stepping back, slowing down, and seeing the gift that it is just to be alive.

What’s the season you are savoring right now?

A. M. Watson

Hebrews 13:8