Years ago, the former American Vice President, Joe Biden, attended a news conference in Washington, USA, with a dark mark on his forehead, and the journalists at the event noticed it. They became curious, and after the meeting ended, they started asking what happened to the vice president. Could it be he had a fall? Or he bashed his head against something? In their curiosity, they realized it was Ash Wednesday, and the dark mark was the Ash he had received at mass that morning. It was a day for Ash and a season of lent. And a Christian, the day demanded that he had the ash on his forehead all through the day.
Just like the Ash Wednesday is a day when most Christians wear ash with pride as a sign of faith and penance, each season in life has a demand or expectation, symbolically or literally.
Seasonality is applicable in every aspect of life, depending on the persons and their peculiar time charts in life. Seasons apply in all facets of life; in religion, economics, politics, education, sports, work life, family life, and virtually all areas of living.
Each season demands a conscious preparation that entails taking stock of the previous season, reflecting on the accomplishments, the lessons, the mistakes, and having the intentionality to make the best of the present season while preparing for the next season. This demand of making the best of the present season could be by adopting healthier habits, learning new skills, decluttering the psychological or mental space, having a clearer goal, bigger vision, more passion, direction, and purpose. It could be letting go of bad energy, bad friends, bad thoughts, bad plans, negative vibes, and limiting notions.
There is a need for us to know when we are in the next season of our life and also the demands of that season, in order to prepare our minds to accommodate the changes that come with it and make the needed adjustments for it to be productive.
There are good seasons and bad seasons, productive and dormant seasons, seasons of tiling, that of planting, that of weeding, and that of harvesting. Each season needs renewed clarity, which demands creating space for new opportunities, ideas, and goals. It demands having the resilience and energy to embrace every challenge and opportunity that comes with it.
The demands of each season depend on many circumstances. As a child or young adult in a particular season, you may be required to step off your comfort zone, pay more attention, be more careful, pray more, make some sacrifices, embrace uncertainties, get new experiences, and welcome new opportunities towards personal or professional growth.
Much as you need prayer, it is important to know that there are seasons you can’t pray away. You have to pass through it, make the history by yourself, dig your well, carry your cross, nurse your wounds, and be proud of your scars. You need to succumb to the season of waiting with the price of patience and diligence.
We are born in a season after a full gestational period of pregnancy. No amount of miracle or science has changed this. On the same note, there are seasons that demand time and wait. Don’t rush it. Some of the efforts of today may not make sense, but in the future, you’ll need them. Just persist, persevere, and maintain a good pace. The reward will come in due season.
Do you need a light during the day? No. You need to keep it till night, which is the season of darkness to make use of your light.
Amara Ann Unachukwu
