I am excited about retiring and look forward to the next chapter of my life. Yet, unexpected emotions pop up, regarding the end of a season and the beginning of a new season. Looking back, I reflect with clarity God’s hand on my life, but I cannot see what lies ahead.
My job with my current employer began as a short-term temporary assignment, but circumstances offered me a greater role. God gave me a boss who was also my biggest cheerleader. She prompted me to further my education, launching my career path. My entire 23 years was like that. God gave me people who had a larger vision for my future than I did. God always has the larger plan in mind.
CHANGING SEASONS
Recently, in what could have been my final promotion, I blew an interview. Although it was 100% my own fault, God allowed it. He knew then what I know now: the promotion would have added more years to my career. According to God’s timeline, this season is ending and the unknown (from my vantage point) looms on the horizon. Do you also find it challenging to change seasons?
UNCERTAIN AND CONFUSED
How do you think Mary and Joseph felt as they walked over to the final hill into the town of strangers, Bethlehem? God had figured everything out, even though the young couple were uncertain and confused. He had a greater vision for their future than they could ever imagine. Their story through their seasons is like no other’s.
HOW PERPLEXED THEY MUST HAVE BEEN
Over the course of the years came major events. A king tried to murder Mary and Joseph’s first born. Then there was the occasion when they lost their special twelve-year-old in the large city of Jerusalem. The frantic parents discovered their young son Jesus teaching old men in the Temple. How perplexed they must have been. As an adult, Jesus became a teacher, who was both honored, revered, vilified, hated, and spit on.
Then came the cross. None of Jesus’ disciples understood the magnitude of what His death meant for the entire world. Even though Jesus had told them about it, they had no clue regarding the upcoming resurrection.
CON YOU GLIMPSE THE JOY TO COME?
Mary knelt at the cross, lost in confusion and grief. Yet God’s favor on Jesus, was present every step of the way, every season, even into eternity. Mary, in your heartbreak, could you glimpse the joy to come?