Identifying Seasons

Transitions are difficult even when they are positive.

The familiarity of our lives and the world shifted two and a half years ago, and many of us are still struggling to find a new ‘normal’ rhythm to life and ministry.

We may not be able to change the season, but we can identify the season and begin to see how it may be changing us.

Theologian, Walter Brueggemann, speaks about how the Psalms are in three categories, Psalms or orientation, disorientation, and new orientation.

The full scope of the human experience is represented in the Psalms, so is it no surprise that our lives move in similar seasons of orientation, disorientation, and new orientation. Here is how Brueggemann describes these seasons:

Orientation is the establishment of structure and order.

Disorientation is a place of imbalance and nonsense even potentially unjust. 

New orientation is moving forward away from what was and toward new possibilities.

As I consider these seasons, I remind myself - It won’t always be this way… but it might. This may be a season, or it may be the story God is telling with the entirety of your life. I have found that the more aware I am of the season I am in, the less I try to buck against what is and cling to what has been.

“The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.” - Elisabeth Elliot

What season are you in?