by Kristen Trant

Fall was harvest time for many farmers in the south. They used various equipment for cutting beans, shucking corn, and picking cotton. Reaping the crops they have tended for many months. Fall harvest is a favorite time of the year, for most farmers. However, not all farmers' crops  flourish or succeed or do well. Not all seeds sown will yield, even though they were all planted at the same time with the same hope. It’s hard to watch other farmers and crops flourish when you worked hard for the same outcome.

In life, it is easy to feel this way with many situations. We expect a certain timeline of events to happen and in a particular order. We expect those “seeds” we plant in the spring to be ready to harvest in the fall.

Graduation, college, career.

Starter home, dream home.

Dating, marriage.

Baby #1, Baby #2, Baby #3.

However, maybe for you and your family, this isn’t a time of “fall harvest.”

Instead of a job promotion, you’ve been laid off. Instead of living in your dream home, you’re still in your starter home pinning pins on Pinterest. Perhaps you are in the midst of a hard “winter” season, which doesn’t seem fair, especially when those around you are flourishing. However, not all harvest seasons “fall” within the same timeline. We picture all of those crops during the autumn season, but what about all the crops that are harvested throughout the rest of the year? Oranges, potatoes, strawberries, cherries, and blueberries, just to name a few, are harvested during other seasons of the year.

So often when the things we pray so hard for actually do come, we find ourselves just wanting what comes next instead of embracing that event and season of life we are currently in. We long for “more” whatever “more” may be.

Now that this harvest season is passing, ask God to guide you and show you what He may be trying to teach you in this season. If you are in a “winter” season, remind yourself that many crops are harvested all winter long, and that seasons change. Keep sowing like its “spring” and know that your “autumn” is coming. If you are watching other “farmers” around you harvest their bountiful crops, know that there are many seasons to this life, but God is with you in every one of them. Find purpose and contentment in whatever season you are in, because God can help you yield blessings through them all.