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Across the Pastor’s Desk by Trish Reedstrom

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 kept popping up in our congregation this summer and, as we turn the calendar to September, we are once again reminded about how “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”

September brings a certain season of time for us all. For those in school or working in the educational system, it’s the beginning of a new year and course of study. Clean notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils point to new opportunities and imagining future possibilities. But change is in the air even if we aren’t in school.

Summer vacations and family gatherings come to an end, fair season concludes and the days are indeed getting shorter. There are already a few leaves starting to change color, and the prairie grasses are beginning to tell us of the season’s changes as well.

For farmers, it’s time to get the combine ready!

Our lives also reflect seasons of change that may or may not correspond to the seasons of nature. The season of harvest, where events in our life seem to come to fruition, are often preceded by times in our lives when life is busy and full of meaning, and each day brings an opportunity to be grateful for all that we have.

At other times, we experience new life: the birth of a new baby, a marriage in the family, completing treatment and being told we are cancer free or returning home from a stint of therapy or rehabilitation.

And then there’s the season that we might associate with the shorter days of sunlight and colder temperatures: those times that seem difficult as we face medical treatments, grieve the loss of a loved one or journey through a time of challenge with school, work, relationships and the like. This season often demands both a certain kind of strength as well as a need for rest.

What Scripture tells us is that, in every season, God is with us. In times of planting and harvest, laughter or sadness, God is with us. In times of celebration, in times of study or discernment, in times of growth, commitment, healing or saying goodbye, God is with us. God is always with us, seeing us through these seasons of life and promising us ongoing peace and forgiveness as well as steadfast love.

As you reflect on your current season of life, may you discover the ways in which God is present and at work in your life in this particular moment and season.

Trish Reedstrom is the interim pastor at First Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.