The Cycles of Life

Science has long since known that all life has it cycles. The seasons are cyclical. They come and they go. The weather has its cycles that follow the seasons.  The stars in the heavens have their courses to run. The oceans have their daily cycle of ebb and flow. We too, are born, we live, and die. Our bodies have their cycles of work, rest and play. Our very sleep has its cycles that it goes through each night. Such are the cycles of life. 

Because our lives move in cycles, we are not static. Things change, we change, circumstances change. As I write these words it’s my birthday. I am very aware of the many changes in my life over my many journeys around the sun. I am not what I used to be. I am not where I used to be. I am not how I used to be. The phases and cycles of life have propelled me to a very different time and place. For me, this has been a wonderful thing. I don’t have many regrets about my past, and I certainly don’t have any regrets about my present. I know my future in Christ, in eternity, is sure. 

It’s comforting to know, that whatever season of life you are in, your Father in heaven knows exactly where you are. Every cycle of change has its challenges. Being creatures of habit, we sometimes resist change.         We all have our comfort zones. The familiar, the well-worn paths we are so accustomed to, all want to bubble-wrap us against a new season in life. 

But as the old saying goes, ‘Time and tide waits for no man.’  

Long before science understood life had its cycles, Solomon, thousands of years ago, wrote in Ecclesiastes Ch.3:1 “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” He goes on in the next seven verses to mention more than two dozen things that has a time and a purpose. 

Paul was very aware that his life’s purpose had a cycle which was coming to an end. In prison, just before he would die as a martyr for Christ, he writes in 11Tim.4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who love His appearing.”

So, what season of life are you in right now? Have you just come through one, or have you just entered a new one? Or do you feel stuck somewhere in-between? Whatever part of the cycle of change you are in right now, see the providential hand of God in it. Joseph came to realise that what his brothers meant for evil, God meant it for good. 

Maybe this will be your due season.

Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” 

- Pastor David Goudy