In Season and Out of Season
AM: Psalm 145 • Ecclesiasticus 2:1-11 • Acts 12:25-13:3
PM: Psalms 67, 96 • Isaiah 62:6-12 • 2 Timothy 4:1-11
“Be prepared in season and out of season.”
I love Spring, and one of the things I get very excited about is the opening of the Farmers Market around the Square in Fayetteville. I love wandering the streets, seeing all the people, reengaging with those I haven’t seen during the long winter months, and the vegetables, ah, the vegetables. Despite the enthusiasm with which I bound onto the streets in April, the selection is sparse, even into May. Those items I yearn for don’t appear until their season. Alas, I must be patient.
Like my beloved vegetables, I find my spiritual life has seasons. During Lent and Advent I am extremely focused. In the middle of the summer my heart wanders like it too is on vacation. Often, I don’t even realize that I am living in a season of parched spiritual earth until God sends a message, most often through the Forward Movement devotions, that awakens me from my stupor like rain on dry ground.
Unlike vegetables, my seasons do not mean I can let the work of God lie fallow. How do I follow the instructions Paul gave to Timothy and stay prepared in season and out? How do I keep my head (and my heart) in all situations? I certainly don’t want to be one of those that seek a spiritual life “to suit my own desires.”
I read a writer recently who compared this conundrum to letting our moments of insight or “supernatural inspiration” be the only times we are in sync with God. What Paul is telling us (not only in Timothy!) is to do our best for God whether we are led or inspired or not. If we wait for those moments to rouse us to action, our service to the Lord will be few and far between. No, dear pilgrims, we must all be like Isaiah who in chapter 50 says “I have set my face like flint.”
And it will not be easy at all times for us to do this. Our reading in Ecclesiasticus reminds us that gold is tried in the fire and acceptable men and women in the furnace of adversity. We need only fix our eyes on Jesus. Paul reminds us in Hebrews that we can accomplish many things because we are surrounded by “a great cloud of witnesses” Therefore, “let us throw off everything that hinders” and “run the race that is marked out for us.” We don’t have to be perfect so don’t wait for that. Remember that God is prepared to give us strength that we never knew we had. And God will provide a peace about our work beyond our own understanding. Those precious gifts and the support of fellow pilgrims. our earthly witnesses, will allow us to achieve unimaginable things.
I am so moved by Paul’s letter to Timothy. It is so personal and filled with admonishments and encouragement. And written as Paul neared the end of his life, it is poignant in so many ways. There is an urgency to what he is writing. There remains an urgency about what we must do. Let us go forth with haste and steadfastness and discharge the duties of our individual ministries. The Lord is waiting.
Written by Dennis McKinnie
...who is looking forward to the first farm fresh spears of asparagus and the crunchy bite of spring pea shoots bathed in Irish butter.