Seasons

'For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.'
Ecc 3:1

I've been thinking quite a bit about time recently and how God gives us different 'seasons' in our lives. This is hardly a major revelation; I think most Christians are familiar with the verses above in Ecclesiastes. Even the title of this blog is a reminder that time moves on and God's mercies remain the same throughout the seasons!

I feel like pregnancy can feel like a lot like standing in a queue, waiting for the next person in front of you to pop their baby out. You can get obsessed with counting the weeks and watching for any sign that the baby may make an early appearance (please God don't let me be overdue!). I am trying to be really thankful for this season of preparation for a new addition to our family and the last few weeks I get to spend with just Chloe. God can make this season just as effective and fulfilling as any other! It just doesn't feel like it when I can't put on my shoes hehe...

I also feel this verse applies to Chloe. She has begun to get very clingy, even not wanting to go to crèche during church. I was always so proud that she was inch an independent, confident child who never cried when we left her. I had to catch myself when I felt disappointed and concerned dropping her off at my mother-in-law's this morning before work because she was in full breakdown mode with me leaving. She is allowed seasons of clinginess and needing her parents more than at other times. She is only 2 after all! I need to practice the type of love that God has in loving us through all our seasons - good ones and bad.

The last way in which this passage has been speaking to me is in preparing for my role in church and generally to change once again. Since Chloe has been born I have gradually taken on more responsibility at church, started socialising more with friends and obviously gone back to work. Now I'm going to have to adjust to stepping back once again and focusing on my beautiful new baby and equally lovely toddler. I am feeling more nervous about this 2nd time round because I know more fully how demanding it is having a breastfeeding baby who requires its mother around 24-7.

Thank you God that you value motherhood and that even in the early hours of the morning, changing pooey nappies and trying to get the baby to latch on for the umpteenth time, your work is being done. This season of learning how to cope with 2 children seems so scary now but I know it's one you've planned for me since before I was born. Thank you for going ahead of me and preparing the way.