In Its Season: Receive the Good That Is Available Today
Notice the good that belongs to today. You can appreciate the past, prepare for the future, and still receive this season with gratitude and patience.
#371 — In Its Season - Why the time is now to flourish in the grace of God and in His service.
Apr 21, 2025
Play the original Excel Still More episode here without leaving the article.
Notice what this season still gives
Every season gives us something to complain about if that's what we're looking for. The next stage can seem like the answer until we reach it and discover that it carries difficulties of its own. If we notice only the difficulty, life can become a repeated wish to be somewhere else. Contentment asks us to look more carefully at the life actually in our hands, including the good we have been walking past.
Think about receiving fruit when it's in season. Some good belongs to the life we have now, even when the season hurts. We don't have to call pain good to notice a gift beside it. The image doesn't mean that every painful event is a gift or that suffering should be explained away. It means that difficulty need not consume every part of our attention. Ecclesiastes 3:1–13 recognizes the changing activities of life and commends receiving its good. We can acknowledge what hurts while also learning to notice what remains available, useful, beautiful, and worthy of thanks.
Give thanks for something specific
It's easy to say we're grateful and spend the rest of the day thinking about what is missing. Name something specific. A person, a provision, or a small opportunity gives thanks somewhere real to begin. A more useful practice is to identify something present and concrete. It may be a person, a moment of understanding, a necessary provision, or the opportunity to do a good thing. Naming it gives gratitude an actual subject and helps the mind return to more than a vague obligation to feel positive.
First Thessalonians 5:16–18 puts joy, prayer, and thanksgiving together. Thank God for the gift and respond to it. Give the person attention or put the lesson into practice instead of leaving gratitude as a sentence. Thank God for the good, praise the character that makes his care trustworthy, and consider how to honor the gift. If you are grateful for a relationship, give it attention. If you are grateful for instruction, practice what you have learned. A written note or prayer can help keep that response clear. Gratitude becomes more substantial when it influences conduct rather than remaining an encouraging sentence that never reaches the decisions of the day.
Let the past and future have their place
Memories can bring wonderful joy, and some bring grief. Appreciate what was given without requiring today's life to look exactly like an earlier chapter. People grow, responsibilities change, and some things cannot be brought back. The danger comes when appreciation becomes a demand that present life reproduce an earlier stage. Children grow, responsibilities change, and some relationships are altered by loss. We can't receive the present fully while insisting that it provide exactly what the past once offered. Grief may take time, but comparison should not become the only way we see what remains.
Prepare for the future without asking it to provide today's peace. James 4:13–15 teaches humility in planning. We can work toward a good possibility and still live faithfully before we know whether it will arrive. James 4:13–15 calls for humility within those plans because tomorrow is uncertain. Don't make today's peace depend on a future result. Prepare responsibly while continuing to live faithfully in the circumstances you have. The past offers memories, the future offers possibilities, and the present offers the opportunity to respond. Let each have its place without requiring one to perform the work that belongs to another.
Keep working while growth takes time
Some good takes time. A skill needs practice, understanding needs study, and trust needs dependable care. Impatience can make us keep interrupting the very process that could produce what we're hoping to see. Waiting is difficult when we can already imagine the result we want. Yet impatience can make us damage the very process we hope will succeed. We change direction too quickly, demand immediate proof, or decide that slow progress means no progress. Patience keeps us willing to do the needed work while acknowledging that work does not control every outcome.
Galatians 6:9 encourages perseverance in doing good. We shouldn't make that a promise that every project succeeds on our timetable. Ask what faithful action fits this stage and what needs patience rather than another demand. The faithful response is to continue what is right without allowing discouragement to become an excuse for abandonment. Ask what responsible action belongs to the present stage: learning, preparation, repair, or simply continued care. Peace grows as we distinguish what we can do from what we must leave unresolved for now. The Lord is trustworthy even when the schedule we would have chosen is not the schedule available.
Say no when wisdom asks you to wait
Being available doesn't make something wise. A relationship, project, or change may seem attractive because it promises relief. Consider the responsibility and the timing before letting the strength of a desire decide the answer. A relationship, a demanding project, or a major change deserves more examination than the wish for immediate relief. Consider responsibilities, readiness, and the moral character of the choice. Availability alone does not establish that an action belongs within faithful life.
Some boundaries require wisdom; others are clear commands. Hebrews 13:4 honors marriage, and verses 5–6 connect contentment with trusting God's presence. We can say no to something attractive because a greater good deserves protection. Hebrews 13:5–6 also connects freedom from the love of money with contentment and confidence in the Lord. These passages help us resist the idea that every desirable thing must be obtained immediately. A willing no can protect a greater good. Pray, study, seek wise counsel, and avoid treating strong attraction as evidence that a choice is right. Restraint can be part of receiving this season faithfully.
Offer the patience you have needed
We can hurry other people's growth while forgetting how long our own has taken. Children, friends, and new Christians may need patient teaching. We can be clear about truth without demanding years of understanding overnight. We may forget the questions, errors, and correction within our own path. Patience does not make sin acceptable or remove the need for a clear response to truth. It helps us teach and encourage without assuming that another person can instantly possess every skill or insight we now take for granted.
Second Peter 3:18 calls for growth in grace and knowledge. Help someone see a useful next step. Encourage the willingness to respond while remaining honest about the work still ahead. Offer a useful next step rather than making another person feel that only the finished result will be welcome. Ask what they understand, read with them, and celebrate a sincere response while remaining clear about what still needs attention. Trust also may need time after a damaged relationship. You can't demand that someone feel secure merely because you want the repair to be complete. Patient care respects both the person and the work that genuine change requires.
Receive today while preparing for tomorrow
Paul learns contentment in different circumstances in Philippians 4:11–13. He doesn't call need pleasant or make abundance the condition of peace. His confidence rests in Christ's strength for the life he is living. That posture gives us a better aim than trying to make every season feel equally easy. We can seek improvement and still receive what is good now; we can acknowledge sorrow and still remain grateful for the Lord’s care.
Choose one present gift to honor and one future concern to hold more patiently. Give someone attention, practice what you know, or prepare modestly. We don't have to reach past every good thing available today. Your life need not fit a standard sequence of family, career, or retirement for these principles to matter. Look honestly at the life you have. Enjoy the memories, prepare for what may come, and receive the opportunity in front of you. Contentment grows when we stop reaching past every available good and learn to live faithfully within the season actually given to us.
Take the idea with you.
- 01What good in today have you been looking past?
- 02What are you trying to hurry?
- 03Who needs patient help with a next step?
Prefer listening?
The original episode player is available near the top of this article, so you can listen without leaving the page.
