Make the Most of the Season You're In

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven … Ecclesiastes 3:1

I absolutely love the fall. It’s my favorite season. What a treat to the senses! It’s not just the brisk, cool temperatures and the sense of “elan,” life and energy that floods my being as I step out the door and am greeted by tangible relief from the summer heat. Nor is it simply the variety and vibrancy of the color palette fluttering on the trees and the feast that creates for my eyes. It’s not just the fun crunch and crackle of fallen leaves under my feet as I walk, nor the fresh smells coming from fields being harvested. It’s also the joy of the harvest, the reaping, the work to receive the bounty and the result of the year’s labor. It’s the life that brings, the laughter, the sense of fulfillment, the satisfaction of a job well done, the security of knowing there’s enough to bring us through for another year.

And just like our world, we undergo seasons in our lives, a rhythm of new birth, growth, harvest and rest, repeated many times in many ways through many circumstances and situations.

With cancer, you may feel like you’re out of step with the seasons, that you’ve become discordant with life’s rhythm or that if you’re in a season, it’s more like winter and not one that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. But whatever season you feel like you’re in, it has a purpose, and you can use it for your own growth and health.

Let’s think through winter for a moment. It’s not such a bad season, and is, in fact, quite necessary in God’s plan. Yes, there are tough weather conditions, like snow, sleet, freezing temperatures, ice storms … things that can take a toll and cause some damage. But winter’s also a time for rest, reflection, and preparation. The world has to slow down, busyness is reduced, energy is conserved to sustain life. In the animal world, creatures come together and huddle to keep warm. Plants die back. But there’s still life.

If you believe cancer has deposited you into the season of winter, focus on your cancer cells dying, while the real you, the one who was there before cancer and the one will be there after, is alive, with cells and every fiber of your being pulling together to overcome the adverse conditions and preparing for spring and the renewal it brings. Spend time reflecting on the important issues of life – what’s meaningful, why are you here – why did God create you and give you life, what and who are you grateful for, what things are still unsaid in your life and to whom, whose life can you touch for good, what are you learning through all this, what do you want to do with your life after cancer or when your cancer is under control and you feel better? Begin to prepare yourself, in your thinking, in your emotions, in your spiritual life, and in your physical body to be able to accomplish those things you sense God still wants you to do, cancer or no cancer.

Perhaps you’re sensing you’re in or about to enter a spring season. Spring is a time of creation, a season of new life. It’s a time of promise, of hope, of planting or emerging from slumber and rest. But, in planting, before there’s life, there’s death. The Bible says in John 12:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ‘Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abides by itself alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit.’ ”

What needs to die in you so your body can fight more effectively against cancer? Your ego, your selfishness, your negativity, your control over your life or others, your fears, anxiety, anger, envy, unforgiveness, or something else?

What do you need to plant in your thoughts, your words, your actions? Love, gratitude, repentance, acceptance, grace, peace, goodness, beauty, purity, strength? Maybe you don’t have those things on your own … ask God for what you need … ask Him to plant in your life -- through the life of Christ alive in you and the power of His Holy Spirit -- all you need to have in your life to give others in His Name and to live with overcoming power. Cultivate your relationship with God. If you don’t know Him, get to know Him and ask Him to help you tend the garden of your life.

Think of cancer as a weed that you’re pulling out of your life and throwing away. See it as dying back, shriveling up and/or being crowded out through the treatment you’re receiving and the good things you’re planting. Or see it as an unexpected blessing that has helped you gain a new and better perspective on things, brought you into relationship with your Creator and the Lover of Your Soul and offered you a clearer understanding and appreciation for the people and things that are valuable and important to you.

Or maybe you feel like you’re in the summer season … a time of growth, vigor and production. Concentrate your thoughts, mind, emotions, strength on producing good fruit in your life. Fertilize the good you’ve planted with proper nutrition – physically, with natural foods, water, exercise, rest; spiritually, with the Word of God and time spent with God in prayer and meditation; emotionally, with putting your thoughts on what is uplifting, honorable, good, right, just, honest, peaceful, encouraging and hopeful. Enjoy the many hues and facets of your life through the people who impact you for good, the experiences that shape you, the teachable moments you recognize and learn from. Feel the rhythm of life pulsating through you and that which is trying to rob you growing weaker. Delight in the life you’ve been given and give hope room to grow.

Fall again? That’s your harvest time. Reap the good; hold onto it; bite into it; relish it; give thanks for it; let it nourish you.

And whether you’ve been given another moment of life or years and years to come, welcome each season as a new time for God to do great things in your life and for you to live to the fullest and best the time you’re in.

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