Have Your Seasons Become Your Lifestyle?

Have you ever noticed that we have a tendency to describe particularly demanding times in our lives as seasons?  It’s usually when the pace has become ridiculous and we’re working like crazy to cram 36 hours of living into 24.  We’ve all been there. The email inbox has so many unread emails that you’re wishing your laptop would crash, giving you an honest excuse to tell people why you aren’t getting back to them.  And just when we get to some serious complaining about how demanding life is, we find ourselves talking with someone who just doesn’t seem to understand why we are choosing to continue living that way.  You know, they’re the ones who will say something like, “Well if you don’t like it, why don’t you change something?”  And what do most of us do?  We respond by telling them that things will be okay, that “It’s just a season.”

A few years ago, I was going through a really demanding season of ministry.  I was working a ton of hours and had become seriously crispy.  I was talking with my wife, complaining about how tired I was and how it seemed like everybody wanted a piece of me.  It was a serious whine fest.  So, tiring of all my whining, she asked, “Well why don’t you make some changes?”  That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.  I wanted to end that line of discussion, so I said it.  “It’s just a season.”  She just looked at me for the longest time without saying anything.  Then she broke the silence with a simple warning.  “You know, when the seasons start to run together, they call that a lifestyle.”

Have I mentioned that my wife is absolutely the wisest person I know?  There was profound truth in what she said.  I can often justify my unhealthy decisions by the fact that I’m in a season.  But too many such seasons and they start to run together, until I’m settling for an unhealthy lifestyle.

Are you in the midst of a season?  Are your seasons running together into a lifestyle?