Well to the Core With Robin LongShembull

Honor Your Season

I don’t know the specific circumstances you’re walking through, but I know you’re in a unique season right now. If we don’t take time to acknowledge our current circumstances, we’ll make the mistake of assuming that what our minds and bodies, and spirits needed in the past is the same thing we need right now. We’ll make decisions based on a season we’re no longer in—decisions that are no longer ideal for our current reality.

Even when we’re facing something we’ve been through before, there are unique circumstances that set every experience apart. For me, this became especially apparent after each of my pregnancies. A few months after having my first baby, I started training for a half-marathon. I had the energy, my schedule allowed for it, and I liked how strong it made me feel. On race day, I nursed my daughter at the starting line, passed her off to a friend, and then nursed her at the finish line with sweat dripping down my face.

Fast-forward to a later postpartum season when I had a five-year-old, three-year-old, and newborn twins. I was nursing two babies around the clock, and my physical recovery was much slower. Training for a half-marathon in that season would have been detrimental to my well-being. Any spare time I had was best used for resting, feeding myself, and keeping my children alive and well.

The same is true when it comes to spending time with God. There may have been seasons in your life when you could spend hours with your Bible in the morning, but now your margins are slimmer, and you find yourself squeezed by the demands of a job, a family, or your own health concerns. If you’re in a season like this, remember that God can still meet you there, even when your time with him doesn’t look the way it used to.

What “healthy” looked like ten years ago will look different from the way it looks in your current season—and that’s okay. It’s tempting to compare yourself to where you were in a previous season, whether that’s a number on the scale, a certain level of fitness, or a particular routine of spiritual disciplines. We often beat ourselves up, saying, I used to be able to do that; why can’t I do it now? But transitions are a natural part of life, and God sees you right where you are.

Our seasons change. In order to work with our bodies and our hearts, and our souls, we have to change with them—and accept God’s grace along the way.