Embracing Your Season

Cool winds of change are blowing at the Ferguson home as we leave 2011 behind and look forward to 2012. Our lives are filled with a flurry of activity while the entire family pitches in to help get Mark's new business off and running by February 1st. He is opening a frozen custard shop, appropriately named, Fergy's Frozen Custard. The shop will be his second family run business in addition to his "day job" so needless to say, the entire family pitches in.

The ministry just moved our offices into the back of the custard shop building, so I can be closer to home and (since I do the bookkeeping for his companies), more accessible to his growing staff.

In addition, our son is completing his last semester of college this December and is looking forward to managing Mark's companies full-time, beginning in January. And as if that isn't enough change, the Ferguson nest will soon be empty when our daughter graduates from high school in May and heads off to college in the fall.

I must admit, I have mixed emotions about the many changes taking place in my life all at once. But I'm reminded that our lives are comprised of seasons. Change is not only normal, it is God ordained.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us,

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:  a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. (NIV)

Whether your current season involves heart rending grief or glorious celebrations, give yourself permission to fully embrace your circumstances. When it is time to laugh, I hope you will laugh until you cry. When it's time to embrace, do so with warmth and sincerity. When it is time to speak, may your words be filled with truth and love. When it is time to build, work as one working for the Lord. And when it is time to weep, let the tears unashamedly flow.

I pray you live 2012 to the fullest, embracing each new day and all it offers as you walk closely with the One who ordains seasons for every activity under the heavens.

And... If you are ever in the Cypress, Texas area, stop by for some frozen custard and swing by the ministry office to say hello. Whatever the season, when you arrive, it will be time to embrace.