Don't give up!

by Elizabeth Stewart

On wintry days spring seems far away, harvest season even farther.  We can become weary of winter's short days and long, dark evenings and its cold weather and lose sight of the promise that winter never lasts forever and that spring always comes.

Just as every year has four seasons, life has seasons, too.  The difference is that the seasons we go through in our life aren't repeated in a yearly cycle.  Most of the seasons of our life come and go, never to be repeated again.  Some seasons are short.  Mothers may recall how in the blink of an eye your newborn baby became a toddler.  Some seasons are long.  Young mothers may feel like the toddler and early childhood years are stretching on forever in an endless cycle of laundry, fetching snacks, picking up toys, breaking up sibling skirmishes and trying to train your little one to be a decent human being.  Some seasons are gratifying.  You may be in a season like that, a season where you are seeing success at your job, in your ministry, in your relationships.  Some seasons feel thankless.  No one seems to notice, much less appreciate, how you go above and beyond at your job, the delicious meals you put on the table each night, the faithful way you serve each week in the church nursery.

Whatever season you are in, there is One Who knows and notices. He sees every hidden act of submission and obedience to His heart and His ways.  He sees the way you serve others.  He sees the way you go above and beyond the call of duty on your job.  He sees you driving your teen all over kingdom come to his extracurricular activities with nary a "thanks, Mom!" in return.  He sees you making that dinner, setting that table, and the family scarfing it down so fast that you wonder if they even really tasted it.  He sees you caring for that elderly parent, who didn't really care for you with the tenderness you needed when you were a child. He sees you diligently, faithfully, preparing for that Bible study that you're leading, only to have those who committed to come be hit and miss in their attendance.  He sees you on your knees praying day after day, year after year, for that prodigal son or daughter without seeing a hint of them turning to Christ.  He sees you forgiving again and again and again the offenses to your heart from that difficult and hard to get along with family member.  He sees your deep soul weariness.  He sees.

"Don't give up!",  He says.  "Your harvest of blessing is coming!"  Just as spring follows winter,  blessing follows obedience.  In those long, hard seasons, when you wake up in the mornings with that same deep soul weariness that you went to bed with the night before, don't you quit.  Your harvest may not be exactly when or exactly what you expect, but it will come at just the right time and it will be blessed.  That's a promise.

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