On Friday, I was privileged to attend the worship service that was part of the Indiana Lutheran Teacher’s Conference. Wow! I felt like I had a taste of heaven during the singing of the hymns. The participants sang with joy and gusto while the instruments and the A Cappella choir added to the jubilance. There were chills for me. One of the hymns was “Thy Strong Word.”
A line of the hymn contains the phrase, “While Thine Ordered Seasons Run.” As we sang that hymn, it hit me, my season is about to change.
I want to take a moment and look at the “Thine Ordered Seasons” of my life.
Living with loving, Christian parents was a huge blessing from God. My parents took care of my physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. They were definitely in charge, however, and I longed for the day when I would make my own decisions. College gave me a taste of that.
I was on my own, in a way. I enjoyed the fellowship of other students my age but did not enjoy the parameters assignments and tests and of eating cafeteria food!
After graduation I lived on my own and cooked my own food, but missed the fellowship that I enjoyed living in the dorm during college years and at home before that. I longed for someone with whom I could share my experiences.
Meeting my husband and getting married was a huge blessing for me! I had someone with whom to share my experiences and was on “my own.” There was that part of me, however, that longed for children.
My neighbors have little children, and the mother is able to stay at home with the children. I look back at my life and miss those times as a “stay-at-home mom.” Then I remember that I do not have to get up several times during the night or at 6 a.m. on Saturday mornings!
I travel to the school where my husband teaches (Lutheran South Unity) and miss the times when the whole family was at the same school. Then I remember all of the demands that my husband and I had during our time with younger children and the financial stretch we faced during those times.
I enjoyed having my children come with me to Concordia Lutheran High School the past 12 years. We have had some excellent conversations and shared experiences. There were some times, however, where having them here meant extra duties and time commitments! We have come upon the last year for that. This season is about to end.
Each season has had its joys and its challenges. I am sure that the next season in my life will also have its struggles and its enjoyable moments.
I don’t know about you, but as I enter a new season (for whatever reason) it can be a bit daunting. What a comfort to focus on the second word of this blog: THINE!
Throughout all of the seasons that I have travelled, God has been there. He will be with me through all of the upcoming seasons as well. Nothing I am about to encounter will happen to me without going through God first. God ordered the seasons that I have experienced, am experiencing now, and will experience in future years.
Whatever your circumstances, God is there. Perhaps you do not yet have a student at CLHS. Perhaps you are an alumni and don’t have any children at all. Perhaps you are currently enrolled at CLHS. Maybe you graduated from CLHS decades ago. Whatever season you are experiencing right now, may you find joy and peace knowing that God has ordered that season and He is in control. Just think, some day we get to actually sing in heaven, “Alleluia! Praise to Thee who light dost send!” We continue on our path until we are blessed to reach that wonderful final season! “Alleluia without end!”
Krista Koch,
Math Teacher