Daily Devotion October 25, 2023

Posted on Oct 25, 2023 in Pastor's Blog |

“There’s a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens…a time for searching and a time for losing, a time for keeping and a time for throwing away” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 6, CEB).

I have a love/hate relationship with fall. Falling leaves remind me that the better part of my time outdoors will be spent in raking them to the curb. Such is the small price I pay for enjoying the shade they provide from the scorching sun.

Yet I find an indelible charm in nature’s transitional move from summer to fall. There is something about the changing of the seasons that echoes a deeper, spiritual reality. The falling leaves beckon us to release our grip on those things that prevent us from experiencing the new life God wants to produce within us.

I believe this message of letting go is what Koheleth had in mind when he wrote:

“There’s a season for everything…a time for searching and a time for losing, a time keeping

and a time for throwing away” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 6, CEB).

All trees undergo a process the yogis call aparigraha or non-clinging. Hanging on to what is no longer of use only prevents newer, stronger buds from forming.

Candidly speaking, it is to our advantage to let go of those things that once benefitted us so that God can make us into the best version of ourselves today. Joni Eareckson Tada writes:

Anyone who takes the Bible seriously agrees that God hates suffering.

Jesus spent most of his time relieving it. But when being healed becomes the only goal –

‘I’m not letting go until I get what I want’; – it’s a problem.

Joni admits that her greatest challenge following her paralysis from a diving accident was releasing her grip on the idea that God would restore her to full health. For many years, Joni’s yearning to be healed kept her hopes alive. Yet there came a season in Joni’s life when she acknowledged that God had something better in mind.

Joni’s paralysis gave her a platform to write, speak, and witness to others that the experience of tragedy need not determine one’s destiny. For decades, Joni has been an inspiration to those whose lives had been altered by disease, a failed marriage, a lost dream, or a tragic accident. Joni has encouraged thousands of people to believe that God can recalibrate and redirect their lives toward a new purpose.

But before new possibilities can spring forth, the old ways and previous aspirations must be released. Something in us must first die before life can be renewed.

So, perhaps you are in a season of grief for a loved one who has passed. Maybe you have moved to a new location and miss the old familiar places and friends. Or possibly you have retired and now no longer possess a sense of purpose and meaning.

If so, allow yourself the time to fully experience these things. When they are spent, don’t wallow in them. Simply thank God for them. Bless them. Then as the season changes, let them go.