Seasons of Heritage for Daughters

Ecclesiastes 3:1

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

In kindergarten, I was taught that there are four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. That's it: four. So, what is this "season" that Solomon is speaking to? And, if there is a season to everything, how many seasons are there? The longer I live, the better I see the wisdom in this verse. Solomon's premise in Ecclesiastes is the vain pursuit of a happy life without God. We will experience seasons and times, and without God leading us, these things are all in vain.

When this verse first stuck in my spirit, I remember realizing there are seasons to my life and thinking back on them. The Bible refers to some of these seasons as 'a babe in Christ', 'younger women', 'mothers', and 'elder women'. Other seasons are referred to in Ecclesiastes 3 simply as "times". However these seasons and times fit into our lives, we must recognize them as normal times in our lives, and able to be borne through God and Christ, but vanity to bear on our own.

"2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."

Time is spoken of repeatedly in the Bible in relationship to God's plans, His will, the future, and our stewardship of what He has given us. There are also many references to the sluggard or the unfaithful, who has used his time or life unwisely for God's Kingdom. Time is very important to our Heavenly Father, and that means it should also be important to us.

Ephesians 5:15-17

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

In this world of fast-paced hurriedness, I wonder if we really grasp God's meaning of time. Certainly there are schedules and time constraints, work hours and appointments in daily life that we must arrange our lives around and make sure to keep, but I wonder if we sometimes the miss the eternal for the sake of keeping up with the temporal.

Relationship Time

I heard a long time ago of another form of "time" that has stuck with me ever since. A missionary friend of ours to Cambodia expressed the different time that Cambodians seem to live on. He referred to it simply as Cambodian time. It is a relationship time rather than a scheduled time. It is a time that allows you to live with people and in their lives, rather than squeezing them into your schedules and time constraints. It allows you to stop and help a neighbor get their cow out of the field or stop 'later on' at a neighbor's for dinner. If that friend went to help another friend, you may get there and wait for him - or perhaps go help too.

Now, that time might drive most Americans bonkers. It might drive you bonkers. But have you ever thought about the time you would have to just be still with the Lord or time to take to have a real heart-to-heart with your children if you weren't rushed to get somewhere or meet someone else's expectations? There are many cultural expectations that we sometimes get caught up in and never even question it because it's just life as we learned it.

It is important to have structure to our days and time, but it is also necessary to have and know a purpose to our days. Most of the time, our days are set by our jobs or appointments or other people's schedules. I personally have found that when I lived in that manner, my house was a mess, my life was a rush, and I was usually frustrated by or frustrating my children. That is not the life I can stop and include God in. It was all vanity: my orchestration of what I thought my time was to God. God actually had no place to fit into my life, because I was so busy doing all these things in His name.

A Futile Pursuit

In Ecclesiastes 3, King Solomon is examining the seasons of times in our lives as a futile pursuit, and I can understand that view, if lived without God. Without God, life and death and suffering and health are just parts of life. Life, it would seem, is without purpose, and therefore just a worthless pursuit of common material things. It is in vain to pursue life without God. With God, however, life is a glorious pursuit.

With a life focused on God and His time and his timing, it is not just man's plans. It is a life lived in contentment through these times, knowing God is in them and in control of them and the outcomes. It is a great heritage we can pass down to our children and will be a blessing to our future generations of grandchildren. We must train our daughters to be content in these seasons and times in their lives. Without this contentment, without trusting God in these times, life is vanity.

Proverbs 16:9

A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.

Living on "Cambodian time" is a very important part of our learning here. We stop what we are doing to teach heart lessons and tie heart strings. If we don't get some things done that we had planned to, we do it the next day. If one of the children finds a bug outside or a beautiful flower, we study it. If one child has an issue with another, we take time to work it out, and if it is time to take a break, we do.

Time Gaps

Our world teaches a system of time gaps to our children. It teaches them to focus on self and their own desires. These lessons teach our children to live life apart from God and His plans, and that is truly vanity. It teaches then to waste the time that God has given them searching for something he does not desire them to seek. It creates gaps in the time He has given them. Rarely does the world's lessons of time imply the Golden Rule of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." If we search the Scripture, we will find there is no time for this. God has set forth these times and seasons for us to trust Him through, and we must seek that. We must find God's purpose in our days.

Finding the Purpose in Our Days

Galatians 4:3 -5

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

As God's women, we know we have a purpose. We know we are created for a purpose, just as all of His creation is. Sometimes we struggle in that purpose, and sometimes we do not have a clue what it even is. I can guarantee you that God has a purpose for you. He has written it all out in His Word, passed down through the generations of His People. How do we know God's purpose for our daughters?

Just as I have a hope and a plan and a dream for the future generations of Dixon children and grandchildren for their good and prosperity and peace and knowing Jesus as their Saviour, God also has a plan and a purpose. It is not a strange thing that it is all found in His Word. If I were going to set out a design for my plans for my future generations, I would write it all down and tell them it is imperative to pass it down and live it out before their children and grandchildren.

God is a loving Father and desires the best for us as His children, His People, and we must take the task of passing down a love of ordering our time to our daughters so that they will love to pass it to their granddaughters. It is a habit we can cultivate all day, as we work daily, side-by-side, cooking, cleaning, enjoying God's creation with our daughters and sons.

Let us be diligent as Mothers, knowing God's plan for their lives as daughters striving to live according to the Word. This is a great responsibility, and requires our seeking His face in these plans as well as knowing Him and His personality through His Word. No one will ever know the mind of God, but He certainly desires His people to know Him and live according to His Words.

blessings,