There are four seasons - spring, summer, fall, and winter. One season follow after another, regularly. A season is a period of the year that is distinguished by special climate conditions. Each season has its own temperature and weather pattern that is repeated every year. The four seasons have very different characteristics and can prompt changes in the world around them.
In the spring, seeds take root and vegetation begins to grow. The weather is warmer and often wetter. Everything begins to come back to life as they adapt for a new season. In the summer, temperatures increases to the hottest of the year. In the autumn or fall, temperatures cool again. Plants begin to go dormant. Leaves begins to change as they adapt for winter. Animals start preparing themselves for the cold weather. Winter brings a cold chill. Some areas may receive snow or ice or maybe both. During the winter animals find ways to get warm.
Just like the earth has four season, spring, summer, fall, and winter, we as Christians go through seasons too. Some seasons we enjoy better than others and some we cannot wait until they are over. There are "seasons of blessings" and there are seasons when we asks the question, "God where are you?" Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up. A time to weep, and time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."
God has arranged that things here on earth and in our lives operates in seasons. Each season in our lives have a time frame that has been allotted for something to happen. Genesis 8:22 tells us, "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Seasons are basically divided into two types: seasons of seedtime (preparation) and seasons of harvest (reaping from what has been sewn during the season of seedtime).
Yes, for everything there is a season and no one can escape the hurts, pain, weeping and sorrows of life. There will be times for laughter and happiness. I have seen so many different seasons in my life, face many different situations, experienced many different experiences, and have met many different people. I have gained. Sometimes I have lost. I have cried many times.
I have been a widow now for over five years. No one understood the depth of my pain, but God. During these five years God has redirected my path. He had me to leave a very lucrative business and MADE me publish. Publishing was never on my to-do list. But God knows best and He knew that this redirecting would help heal my broken heart. By now I have published over 80 books, most of them are Christian children's books. Sales were very good the first and second years, but the books are slowly selling now. I thought by now that I would have so many book sales that I would be making thousands of dollars a month. I thought I would be touching people hearts, making a huge impact on people's lives by feeding souls on the Word of God. None of this has happen yet. But I am still being obedient to God by continuing to publish and sharing the Word of God.
Probably after publishing a few books and seeing no increase in sales, most people would have given up and moved on to something different. Oh, by the way, did I tell you that I self-published? I have to bear all of the expenses that goes along with self-publishing, from paying the Illustrator (children's books), copyrighting, formatting, etc. Now very slow sales, but I just keep going on anyway trusting and believing by faith that if God told me to write, out of obedience, then I will continue to write. Pastor Michael Todd calls this, "Crazy Faith." Crazy Faith is defined as thoughts or actions that lack reason, but trusting fully in what you cannot explicitly prove. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
David had crazy faith when he fought Goliath. When David told Saul that he would kill the giant, Saul did not laugh at David, because Saul was willing to try anything. The entire Israelite army was afraid of Goliath. David stepped out in faith, not just regular faith, but "crazy faith." It was "crazy faith" that Noah built the ark in preparation for something he had no evidence was going to happen. The Bible says, "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith" (Hebrews 11:7). It took "crazy faith" for Gideon when the Lord had him to reduced his army from 32,000 to 300 men to fight the huge Midianite army of 135,000 men, but Gideon was victorious.
There are times, I wonder did God really have me to give up my lucrative business to publish, especially when it seems like no one are buying my books, but me. Sometimes I wonder if my faith is failing. It's easier to have faith when everything is going well, but when things seems out of control and you are surrounded by uncertainties of life, that is when faith is mostly needed. Then one day I was talking to a friend and she told me about the "bamboo season." So I did some research on the history and uses of bamboo.
Bamboo is a group of woody perennial plants in the grass family of Poaceae. In the tribe of Bambuseae, also know as bamboo, there are 91 genera and over 1,000 species. The size of bamboo varies from small annuals to giant timber bamboo. Bamboo types are split into two different sorts, running type and clumping type. They have two different growth habits. The rhizomes of running bamboos run underground at a shallow depth and spread to densely fill up an area of land. The rhizomes can extend some distance underground from the standing culms before the break above ground. How aggressive the growth will depend on the specific species but the running type of species are what you need to choose to produce a screen or hedge.
Clumping bamboos have a very short root structure, are genetically incapable of expanding more than few inches a year, and will generally form discrete circular clumps. The clumps slowly enlarge as new culms emerge every year, but may ultimately need to expand to anywhere from 3 to 10 feet in diameter in order to reach their mature height, depending on the species. Clumpers make excellent specimen plants and will also form very dense screens, but more slowly than runners.
There is a very popular Chinese parable that talks about the Chinese Bamboo. This tree grows in China and in other countries. In order for the tree to grow it must be fertilized with the right quality soil, watered, and sunlight is crucial for its survival. The story goes like this, a Chinese farmer once planted a bamboo tree as he heard that it can create miracles, and he needed one to care for his struggling family. So the farmer faithfully watered it, fed it, and cared for the soil, in which he planted the bamboo seeds. For an entire year he saw no sign of life, no signs of growth, not one sprout, and appears there was no hope. The second year was the same as were the third and fourth years. His patience and faith in this "miracle" bamboo plant started to fade. How could something that he had so diligently cared for reap absolutely no reward? During the fifth year, just as he was about to give up on his dream of growing the plant, he noticed it started to sprout. The bamboo sprung up 60 feet over the next six weeks. That's 10 feet per week.
The Chinese bamboo did not lie dormant and then suddenly shoot up 60 feet in six weeks. A Chinese bamboo tree takes five years to grow. It must be watered and fertilized in the ground where it has been planted every day. What the farmer did not see the first four years was the root system was developing to support its rapid ascent above the ground. If the bamboo plant did not have a strong root system the root system could not support its massive growth. So in the first year there appears to be no visible signs of development. In the second year still no growth above the soil. In the third and fourth years, still no signs. But finally in the fifth year - voila!
The Chinese bamboo tree is the perfect parable to my own experience and maybe yours. It has not been easy being extremely obedient to God and not seeing any progress in sales of my books, and my life seems stagnated. But I guess I have this "crazy faith." You see God gave me the seeds, I have planted the seeds, I continue to water the seeds, but only God can make them grow. I understand that without planting there can be no harvest. I know that it is very important to keep planting and keep watering the seeds of this "crazy faith." I know that things are happening even if I can't see them. Scripture tells me, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). I stand on this and this is what this "crazy faith" keeps me believing. I have planted them, I have fertilized them, I have nurtured them, I have watered them and through Scriptures they receives the sunshine.
God blesses me everyday, I experience His riches and I know that He is getting me ready for my incredible future. This "crazy faith" makes me believe that regardless of what it looks like now, my bamboo season is coming. I serve an on-time God and He is never too late. During this season in my life, God is watering my "bamboo season" through my "crazy faith" by His presence, through His Word, while I listen to His still small voice. I know that the human factor kicks in at times and I occasionally investigate the soil to see if there is any signs of growth for my "bamboo plant" in my "bamboo season." I have learned a lot in this season of my life, experiences that has been packed with treasures that I would never have experienced while being on the mountain top - the good times. God is strengthening my relationship with Him, activating my "crazy faith" in this process called "trust."
We are trapped in time with all the unfulfilled expectations that the passing of time brings to us. But God knows all about our unfulfilled expectations. He even knows all about our experiences. He knows about when we don't get things right. When we should be planting, we pluck. Sometimes we laugh when we should be weeping. There are times that we are silent when we should speak out. God knows when we need to cry and when we need to laugh. God knows when we should mourn and when we need to dance. God knows when we need to be silent and when we need to speak. God knows when its time for someone to be born and only He knows when it is time for us to die. God knows everything about us and nothing escapes Him. He knows all the minute details of our lives, everyday of our lives.
So when I become impatient with my process because my bamboo faith plant has not sprung up, my crazy faith kicks in and I thank God for the journey that He has me on. Just like the bamboo plant, even if I continue to have faith, in the end I will see that God was working all along, it was just on His own time table. So just like the bamboo tree, you cannot see the growth taking place all those years because it is underground, I will eventually come out on the other side stronger, wiser, and better than before by God's grace.
God "has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
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