Wednesday night, Pastor Monte Knudsen preached on “Trees in the Bible” and the seasons of life. He shared how a tree copes during the winter.

On the way home, I was thinking about the seasons of life: a child, a young man, a father, and a grandfather. We compare each season with a calendar season, starting with spring.

We are starting with the wrong season!

In the winter you can see the shape of the tree but it is difficult to determine the type of tree it is without its leaves or fruit. The growth of a tree during the winter is in its roots.

You cannot tell what a child will become during its formative years. Those are the years they are growing their roots.

In the spring, trees bud and unfurl their leaves. Then you can identify the tree. A young man is like that tree. He has buds of interest in many things but the leaves show his God-given purpose.

The leaves are full-grown in the summer and provide wonderful shade. This is a season of endurance. The sun is hot and unrelenting.

Fatherhood is unrelenting! The pressure is on. All. The. Time. There are few breaks. It’s a 24/7 job.

But the reward is in the autumn. The temperature cools and the fruit ripens. The tree is in its most beautiful array, Proverbs 16:31, 20:29.

This is when a man becomes a grandfather! You get all the benefits of having a child but someone else is taking the heat!

Our calendar begins in the winter and our lives do too. The first place of growth is in our roots.

Winter – Child

Spring – Young Man

Summer – Father

Autumn – Grandfather

Children are the flowers, grandchildren the fruit!

We rarely recognize it when we pass from childhood to adulthood or from winter to spring. We only see it when we look back.

1 Samuel 18:2, “Saul received David into his own household that day, no more to return to the home of his father.” The Message

My sister-in-law borrowed a briefcase from me to attend a Job Fair. I believed it was empty. I was showing her the hidden compartments when I realized there was still something in one. I pulled out my business cards from my former job.

I felt like crying. I loved that job. I didn’t know it was the last day in my office when I packed it up for the second time and started working out of my home. I didn’t know I would never go back.

I do know – I don’t want to go back. God gave me a new assignment. I am fulfilling the purpose for which He created me. There’s still work. But whatever He gives me, I plan to do my best.

1 Samuel 18:5, “Whatever Saul gave David to do, he did it – and did it well.” The Message

In September we will leave our “summer season.” Our baby is getting married! (I already have plans for his room.) Our oldest son and his wife gave us a grandchild and I know how much fun it is to live in autumn.

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