'Tis a Reason for the Season....

Last year, I had the opportunity to visit about eight million singles groups in the DFW metroplex. And at the end of that craziness, I had decided that singles can be lumped into the following two categories: singles for a SEASON and singles for a REASON. All of my fresh-out-of-college friends thought this was a cute way of organizing the unfamiliar territory that we found ourselves in.

Tonight, I am recanting that statement. Singleness is a season of life (not that unlike childhood or the proverbial mid-life crisis) that prepares us for the next stage in life. Just as autumn yields to winter and winter yields to spring, so God uses one life stage to segue into another. And he does so with all the reason in the world: to prepare us for what is to come and to give us the opportunity to reflect on the way He has provided for us in the past. Would the smell of spring flowers be as sweet if not preceeded by the bitterness of winter? Would we remember to give thanks for the harvest if we had never passed through months of famine?

We are singles for a season AND for a reason. Just as I have been friendless....and helpless....and jobless....and penniless...and faithless during other seasons in my life.

Despite these 85 degree November days in Texas, I can feel the winds are changing in my life and that another season is about to begin. Not so much regarding singleness (although if that status changed, I sure wouldn't complain). But really I sense things changing in bigger, more important ways. God has heard the longings of my heart, and has been moving in my life, and now I am reaping the harvest!

So, my dear friends, I am going to be signing off for awhile. These are the days for celebration -- not contemplation. And the need to blog isn't as great as it used to be. But, never fear, as with all seasons, this one will eventually become a distant (but wonderful) memory. And I'll be back to continue this conversation with you.

"To everything there is a season

And a time to every purpose under heaven"

Ecclesiastes 3:1