I have written a lot about the seasons of death and resurrection in our lives. Walking through my own time of loss, chaos and reordering the past two years has kept the topic on the forefront of my mind. Though many insights have come wading the waters of this transition, one that I received recently is particularly impacting.
When it comes time to leave the former things we are immediately thrown into a process of working through loss and grief to some degree. That is the piece we refer to and feel as a “death”. For one reason or another what we’ve known about ourself and our life has taken a dramatic turn. What was can no longer be the same going forward. Until recently I focused much on this part of the journey.
But in experiencing some recent events in which I became aware of fear at the opportunity to move forward this realization came to me:
Death is only a means to an end in this process – it’s not the end itself.
During the Christmas season we have the fortunate position of looking back at what Father has done. As we focus on the cradle we keep one eye on the cross. But Jesus didn’t solely come to die. In fact I believe death was never the goal. Death was only the process in which the real purpose could be achieved.
Renewal.
The making new of all things, must involve the passing away of what preceded it. That is the death we speak of and many of us find ourselves in at this unprecedented time of human history.
We have shifted no doubt.
Something I’ve been hearing a lot lately is that “a new season has come”.
I believe it, but still I’ve wrestled with a hesitancy to fully jump into it.
However, Jesus’ season in the grave was short. This was the period between his death and resurrection. He didn’t linger there long and His Father didn’t leave Him there. I think there’s something to be learned from that. We can get lost in the “death” of the old season. We can resist the new for all kinds of reasons. But when it’s time to come out it’s time to come out. There is no more grace to linger there. Our processing begins to take the form of holding on and holding back. In this though, Father God is patient. He sets a pace that works with us not against us.
He sings “if you’re ready I’m ready” but He waits for an invitation from us.
Jesus’ death season lasted a day.
But his resurrection season is forever.
The bible tells us He had a “joy set before him” which enabled Him to endure the cross (Heb.12:2). There is a joy waiting for us at the end of what we’re going through that will make it worth it. I can say I am beginning to experience it now. I’m in a better place now than I was before. New life is beginning to spring up all around.
The next season will come to limit the length of the suffering of the one we may be in. There is always renewal happening.
We mourn death as little or as extensively as it may need to be worked through. We have to. It’s important to acknowledge the loss. But then there comes a day – a time for resurrecting. A time when we put our full trust in our Father to raise us up again just like He did His Son. But this time we rise in greater brilliance than we had before, closer communion with our Father and identification with who we really are.
I’m not talking about a future resurrection. I’m talking now about the many renewals we walk through in life under the loving guidance of our Father.
In a renewal, there’s one stunning thing I’ve learned about how much Father loves us:
He will come for us.
He comes to reclaim the real us.
We are His goal. We always have been.
He has put me back together drawing in the pieces I never even knew were fragmented. He has reordered me and reorientated me towards the truth of who He is and who I am.
Death feels like an end but it is really a new beginning.
Mourn your loss well
Let Him work within you what He needs.
There are seeds He has planted within you that require this winter season to sprout.
Let it happen.
He will bring you out.
We can trust this:
God as a Father never left His Son in a grave. Nor will He leave us.
He will bring us out.
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