Changes through the Seasons
Good morning,
While I was at the Xcel Energy Center some time ago, I saw what the inside of the arena looked like after the season was over and no events were scheduled. As I looked at the empty stadium, the Holy Spirit of God greatly impressed on my heart how our life changes when the cameras die out and our world becomes oddly quiet. The Xcel Center is a stage that can be changed to be a Hockey arena, a concert venue, or other sporting events. The stage is just a space that is changed by human hands to adds to the play. In essence, the Excel Center is simply a stage where the stagehands change the setting to conform to the play’s design. The Excel, like all stages, requires constant maintenance, moving things around to set up for the next play or even the next set.
In the same way, we as humans, our bodies are a stage that, like the Excel, requires maintenance and the need to adapt to changes in the set and, sometimes, the play itself William Shakespear said in his speech “All the World’s a stage”, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages”[1]. My point is that in life we play many parts and we need to change with the time and settings; we will not always be full of life nor always experiencing bad times or lonely times. Consider Job who had enjoyed the greatest affair in the days leading up to him being afflicted by the Devil. After his children were killed and then he was inflicted with skin ailments, his wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die.” To which Job responded, “you speak like a foolish woman. Shall we accept from God, and not trouble” (Job 2:9 and 10 NLT).
When the world is busy around us, we have the viewpoint that we are important and that world owes us; Yet, this is only a lie we tell ourselves to bolster our ego. In 2000 and again in 2002, I was let go from jobs that I felt were so secure. Imagine my surprise in getting a pink slip and how scared I was to lose the one thing I thought was impossible to lose; after all, I was in Information Technology (IT) and what could be more secure? During the time I was employed, many people admired the work that I did and the gracious words bolstered my ego. When I received the pink-slip, I felt betrayed because the people who bolstered my ego were the same ones to let me go. In the days following the loss, I tried very hard to find value in my life and I felt well, just like the picture of the empty stadium; all of the stuff remained around me yet, I was no longer of any service. My father frequently said, “If you think you are so valuable that the world cannot do without you, put your finger in a glass of water and then pull it out; the size of the hole your finger left in the glass of water is how important you are” (Tony Krier). No matter how bad those days were, I was able to move on, change the setting and continue about my life. Today, I am fully employed and enjoying some good years.
12 years ago, this next March, our family buried our son of 18 years. While it was a sad time, from those sad days God was able to bring us to the point of a new life or, “new heaven and a new earth” (Revelations 21:1,4). We did not get our son back but, we were by some amount of grace able to get beyond the grave to see the cross. God rebuilt my wife and me through trials and storms to become stronger than we were before. During Jesus’ lifetime, as short as it was, many followed him and sought to heal through him. At his death, the disciples most likely thought their life was at an end; when, all reality, it was just beginning. For three years, the disciples enjoyed good days and then the struggles set in. The bad times that would ensue were not the final days on earth but, proof of God’s power to make the bad days the catalyst for the exploding power of God’s hand to change the world.
We need never worry about changes in scenery, bad times, hard times, nor sad times because in time it all changes. God’s word encourages us to always look to the Rock from which we have been cut. No matter how bad or ugly the scenes of our life may be, we can be assured that God is greater than even the worst life can throw at us. “With Jesus, even in our darkest moments the best remains, and the best is yet to be” (Corrie TenBoom). Be encouraged, my Brothers and Sisters.
All of my writings can be found at
http://www.mikesencouragement.net
[1] Speeches William Shakespear accessed https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56966/speech-all-the-worlds-a-stage
Mikes Encouragement 