Where has the last year gone?

It is mid-January. The cold, dark, dreary days have returned. Its time once again for the pruning of the grape vines in the vineyards. The cutting away of the old to make ready for the new growth and fruitfulness. The solemn, lonely hours spent in the vineyard - working on one plant at a time - trying to give each one the best chance for abundance in the season to come. A time for contemplation.

Where has the last year gone? It has been almost a year since I last posted on this site. A year spent trying to fit the right amount of time in for my wife, kids, church, coaching, sports, work - the list could go on and on for each of us. For me, it has been a year of transition - a year of frustration - a year of obedience. Time can definitely be our stumbling block and the enemy wants to take it away from us so that we are ineffective for the Kingdom.

I set a plan in place a few years ago to transition my time and work. At the time I knew life was going to get tougher before it would get better during the transition time. In hindsight, I underestimated how much it would get tougher before it got better! But I think I am on the other side now and have tried to keep this verse in mind:

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
1 Corinthians 10:13

If you are in one of the tough spots in you life, keep striving forward in obedience. The season will change from the dark, cold, dreary days. The season of vibrant growth with the bright sun will come in His time and the dark, tough days will have strengthened you for the future.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8