Change is in the Air

By Michelle Wallace

This is a season of change. Many of us are on a journey, moving from one place to another. Divine assignments and realignments! Perhaps you’ve been there. Maybe, like me, you find yourself going through a change of season now. We’re always going through changes, but there are those watershed moments that bring major shifts in our lives and they are never easy! Transition may be exciting and adventurous but it can also be rough.

Song of Songs 2:11:13 expresses the heart of the Bridegoom-King: The season has changed, the bondage of you barren winter has ended, and the season of hiding is over and gone. The rains have soaked the earth and left it bright with blossoming flowers. The season for pruning the vines has arrived. I hear the cooing of doves in our land, filing the air with songs to awaken you and guide you forth. Can you not discern this new day of destiny breaking forth around you? The early signs of my purposes and plans are bursting forth. The budding vines of new life are now blooming everywhere. The fragrance of flowers whispers,“There is change in the air.” Arise, my love, my beautiful companion, and run with me to the higher place. For now is the time to arise and come away with me. (The Passion Translation)

In verse 11 the rains speak of the outpouring of God’s Spirit that brings refreshing and prepares her to move out with him. Verse 12 explains the season for pruning has arrived. This is the part of the process that can be painful, letting go of things in the past and patiently waiting for the new thing to begin. But verse 12 ends on an uplifting note with the cooing of doves in our land. The turtledove is only heard at the time of harvest. And harvest represents abundance. Even when things around us appear to be in chaos or lack, we can live in a place of abundance when we’re living in our purpose.

There’s a story in 1 Kings about a prophet named Elijah. The short version is that God told Elijah to go to a certain brook where he would have water and food to live in the midst of a drought. Eventually the brook dried up and Elijah was told to go to a widow who had been instructed by God to feed him. This is one of those times where we see the whole story, so to us it can be humorous. It wasn’t so funny for the widow. When Elijah arrived and asked her for bread she looked at him like he was crazy. Apparently, she didn’t get God’s memo. She said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a bottle: you found me scratching together just enough firewood to make a meal for my son and me. Here comes the funny part, she says, “That we might eat it and die.” Well, it’s funny when I read it, because I know how the story ends. It’s not so funny when I’m a character in one of these grand plays!

Can you relate? We know that she gives Elijah her last bit of bread and God commands a blessing that brings the widow an abundant supply. There are a couple things concerning change in the story that can help us out. One, if God says to go to the brook it doesn’t mean you were called there for the rest of your life. It’s important to recognize when a season is over. The brook might have been a beautiful place at one time, but if it’s dried up, it may be time to move on. If Elijah wouldn’t have moved on he would have missed the opportunity to bless the widow. Now, the widow needed to recognize her appointed time. When Elijah arrived, it wasn’t the end of all things, it was just the beginning. Giving when it’s hard is just an opportunity to receive greater blessings. When a plant is pruned, it can look barren. But the pruning makes way for beautiful increase. On a side note, this year California’s Death Valley is experiencing a super bloom. Talk about barrenness turning to abundance, where literal rock is covered by multitudes of flowers, it’s really something to see!

Now, just a word about the waiting. We can despise the time in between one season and the next, complain and be miserable or embrace it. As I write, we are in the season where it drops to low temperatures at night and I wake up chilly in the morning. But if I turn the heat on, by late afternoon the temperatures rise and it becomes too hot. Rather than spend time switching between heat and A/C and controlling my environment, I’m dressing for the cooler nights and warmer afternoons. Life is easier when we embrace the change and not try so much to control it. You and I will find it’s so worth the wait. For those who wait on the Lord find new strength, they will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. No matter how old you are, the invitation to a new season awaits! Arise my love, winter is over, flowers are in bloom and the season for singing is here!

Connect with Michelle at www.HandofTheKing.com.