Part 1 - Devotion

Every Season Has a Reason

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.  

                                                                                                                                          Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV) 

My husband and I recently celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary. We were just 18 and 19 years old when we got married. I often joke around that I finished raising him while I was raising our four kids, but, in truth, we both finished growing up together.

Like all married couples, we went through a period of adjustment. We determined early in our marriage that it was going to require a great deal of communication and conscious effort to take all the traditions, expectations and beliefs we each brought from our backgrounds and merge them into our own family dynamic.

We began our sophomore year in college as we opened this new chapter in our lives. One evening we were cooking dinner together – sort of. He was making his mother’s chili on one side of the stove, and I was making my mother’s chili on the other. Of course, that is way too much food for two people, and it soon occurred to me that I could go study if I were just willing to eat his mom’s recipe. Over the years this has become known as “Dad’s chili”, a family favorite that is often requested by both our kids and our grandkids when they visit.

Life is full of new chapters that introduce change into our life. Some we anticipate with excitement. Others we dread with a good deal of trepidation. Still others can take us completely by surprise. Whether big or small, God has promised He has a purpose for every season of our lives. While we have 20/20 knowledge of our past, He has a perfect view of our future. There is a certain comfort in all that is familiar – like my mom’s chili was to me, but it can be unsettling or even frightening to step into a new and unknown future. “Dad’s chili” is a simple thing really, in the grand scheme of things; however, it represents a blessing that is important to our family.

This time of year there are women of all ages adjusting to new stages of life. Some mothers may be sending their “baby” off to kindergarten. Other mothers may be helping their “baby” move into their first college dorm room. As you turn the page and begin a new chapter, hold your memories in your heart, but embrace the new blessings and opportunities He has in store for your future.

Stephen and I have walked through many changes during the last 4 1/2 decades from births and deaths, parenthood and an empty nest, job losses and career changes. We have learned to lean on His promise that there is a reason and purpose for every chapter He is writing in our lives.

I am just an ordinary middle-aged woman striving to make a difference one word at a time. . . no matter what hat I am wearing at the time.