Seasons....and Falling Behind...and Being Right on Schedule

Lately, I've been discovering that more and more of my friends are now becoming grandparents.

Crazy...especially since I don't think we are old enough to even be grandparents but also because all of my kids are younger than 10 years old and my youngest is 15 months. It's going to be a good little while before I'm a grandparent. 

Sometimes I look at my friends' stage of life and think: I'm way behind schedule. 

And then I look at my life and everything starts to feel late. 

I'm behind on my cleaning schedule.  

Behind at work.

Behind on teaching the 5 year old to tie his shoe. 

Late on getting the baby dedicated at church. 

Seems like I'm just behind on dang near everything.

Then I think about my post-high school years and my 20s. I was nowhere near ready for a child in my teens or even my 20s for that matter. I'd planned my life out. College at Howard University straight out of high school to get my journalism degree. While some of the people I know were getting married in their early 20s, I was moving to Los Angeles and enjoying living single and traveling and meeting new people and just being a young adult.

Interesting how back then I never thought I was off schedule. 

So why do I think that now? 

Perhaps I've forgotten about seasons. And that we all have our own appointed ones.

Psalm 1:3 "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in ITS season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither;  And whatever he does shall prosper."

Every tree brings forth fruit in its own season. We don't expect peaches to be plentiful in winter because it's a summer fruit. We know this and wait patiently until summer when peaches are ripe, juicy and sweet. Different kinds of fruits ripen at different times of the year. 

So it is with our lives. While some are planting, others are flourishing. That's just the way life goes.  Even when it's not our season to bear fruit, we can rest assured that our leaf will not wither.

It's so easy to feel like we are withered up when fruit isn't hanging heavy from our limbs. But when we are planted by living waters, we are always being sustained and fed. Work is always being done....sometimes it's just underground.  

I'm taking comfort that seeds in my life are being nurtured underground right now and are taking root--even in the midst of what looks like unfruitfulness. 

"You’re blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. " Psalm 119:1 

I'm going to stay the course, despite feeling behind. 

It's often when we feel of course and fruitless that we are right on schedule. 

"To see things in the seed, that is genius." -Lao Tzu