Frequently in Scripture, God often uses nature to teach an invaluable truth. Even those who try to avoid spiritual realities are surrounded daily with life lessons built, by the Creator, into nature. Truly, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” Psalm 19:1. Who can help but think of one’s own life cycle when observing the beauty in the annual cycle of nature?
Life begins in the spring. The future will be determined by what is planted in the rich, freshly tilled soil. It is truly a time of preparation, and how much more productive the sower who sows with a view of harvest time in mind. Spiritually speaking, the best use of the springtime of life is to seek God early. “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You…” Psalm 63:1. If you are a mother guiding young daughters who are in the spring time of their lives, the qualities that God specifies we teach include being loving, sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, and in subjection. (Titus 2) What advantage a young soul has when within the first two decades of life they have been taught to “un-enslave” themselves to themselves in service to others, and to value what is in fact valuable- people. (Matthew 16:26) The qualities of being loving, kind, and in subjection, are all learned best within warm family relationships. The home is where good socialization (the golden rule) is learned. Give your children the lifelong benefit of developing orderly habits as future “workers at home”-- especially with spiritual endeavors. By the middle or end of “spring” your children may already begin to win hearts for the Lord- a skill they can use the rest of their lives.
While all seasons of life can be fruitful, there are elements about summer that make it a time of unique opportunity for productivity. One of the wisest choices a woman can make in the summer of her life is to wait for a leader for her home who will love her as Christ loved the church (Eph 5:25). This is the kind of man who will help her life be the most fruitful. If he’s “taking his time to show up”, use those extra years to learn all you can in a field that brings you fulfillment and does the world some good. Everything you learn not only is good insurance for the future; it can be passed on one day to your children. Learning is never a waste of time. For most women, summer can be the most exhausting season of life. The challenge is to keep focused on “the big picture”, during the whirlwind of bearing and raising children. Yet the process of leading little ones to the Lord can instill as much virtue into a mother as it does into her children. Perhaps it is the challenges of summer that can make it so productive. Because women have so many souls within her sphere of influence, this time in life often seems to be the time when the pitfalls of sin can be priciest. If a woman now allows herself to be pulled into sin, she often takes the souls of her children down with her. “The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.” Proverbs 14:1. Be wise.
Fall is the time when a woman hopes to harvest all she has invested. “Give her the product of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates” (Proverbs 31:31) is her deepest desire. By the fourth and fifth decades in life, a woman has sharpened the skills she as long ago discovered, and those skills and experiences are best used in “teaching what is good” to younger women. The wise, older woman is often approached for advice, and perhaps this is why honoring the privacy and reputations of others is among the instructions given to older women in Titus 2. Also mentioned is reverence. Earlier in life, a lot of what we said and did may have sprung from a desire to be accepted. By this time in life, our confidence is often at its peak, and frankly, this may predispose us to say or do just about anything, anytime without much embarrassment. Perhaps this is why older women are here reminded to be reverent. Lastly, in Titus 2, older women are told to avoid addiction to wine. The autumn of life may also be a time of disappointment when a woman may begin to compare her actual harvest so far, with her earlier expectations. Women must learn to cast all their cares and disappointments upon Him, and not look to wine or even spending, or other addictions to sooth the pain of her disappointment. She must trust God that her toil is never in vain in the Lord (1 Cor 15:58) and that her deeds and reward will indeed follow her (Rev 14:13).
Finally, in the winter of life the older woman should have more time to do what she loves best, which is for many the enjoyment of the relationships she has planted in the spring and summer of life, and has nurtured in the fall. After a lifetime of service, she must learn to be at peace with being served, not only for her own good, but so that those who serve her may too be blessed (Mark 9:41). Remember at the end of Jacob’s life when he gathered his children together and “blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him.”? (Gen 49:28). How priceless it would be, for the woman in the winter of her life, to put in writing her blessings and spiritual guidance for her children and grandchildren! Throughout life this godly woman has taught them how to live beautifully, and can now teach them how to die beautifully, by drawing “near with confidence to the throne of grace” Hebrews 4:16
Cindy Dunagan
Author of the Journaling Toward Moral Excellence series of journals.
cindy@straightpathspress.com
Journaling Toward Moral Excellence
