Intro: 00:00

Welcome to the Infinitely Precious Podcast produced by Infinitely Precious LLC. Your host is James Henry. Remember, you are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are.

James: 00:12

Hello, beloved. It's me, James, and it's good to be with you today. Another opportunity for us to share this journey, a spiritual journey that we're all on here on the Infinitely Precious podcast. This week, thought I'd talk about the seasons of life. And the reason why I thought I'd talk about the seasons is because so often we all tend to live in life as though it's a linear experience.

James: 00:40

And that we pick things up along the way and we're just going to keep carrying them all along. And I've been noticing, especially in my own life recently, that life comes in seasons. Certain people have been very important in my life at various points in time. And then they sort of slip out of my life. They come back in periodically, but the place that they held is no longer quite the same.

James: 01:16

And the same has been true for me. I've recently spent some time with a couple of different people for whom I was an important part of their journey. And years later, years on, not so much. And that set me to pondering what that's all about. What was it like?

James: 01:41

Because I never while I've had people describe to me, a couple of folks describe life as seasons. Is this the right season to do something? Much like farmers. Is this the right season to plant? Is it the right season to water and fertilize?

James: 02:01

Is it the right season to harvest? Much in that same way, they talked about the spiritual life as coming in seasons. Seasons when we felt rich and full and close. And seasons when it seemed more arid and like being a wandering group in the desert. So putting those various things together, I've been pondering this idea of seasons.

James: 02:35

Because if we're going to experience seasons in life, recognizing that it is a season and enjoying the season when it's here rather than spending our time wishing we were in a different season might be the way to really live into the life we've been given. And I think that's really what life is all about. As I've shared before, each moment is a precious gift. It's a moment we're meant to live in. It's a moment we can experience for what it is.

James: 03:08

But part of that experience is being in the moment, in the season that you're in, recognizing that things change. One way that it's been expressed as an adage I grew up with all my life is you can never go home. And that sounds so abrupt and perhaps hurtful in some ways. But what it's really recognizing is the season of when we're growing up in a household, whatever that household looks like, whoever's in that household, we will never go back to that same place again, that childhood that we had. For some people, that's really good news.

James: 03:53

They don't want to go back because childhood was not a good place for them. And for others, they long for that sort of what they remember as a carefree kind of golden age of their life. Some people imagine that they peak in high school. You know, they're known and awarded and recognized and loved. And then they go out into the regular world, a much bigger pond, and feel like they're lost because they're not in that same place.

James: 04:27

So as I pondered about seasons, these are the kinds of things that arose for me in thinking about seasons. First of all, each season has its time. We don't know how long it'll last. So appreciate it while it's here. So often we get so caught up in our schedules, in our busyness, in rushing through the moments of our lives that we don't stop in the season we're in.

James: 04:59

How many parents have I talked to, including myself sometimes when I look back on my children's lives and think I wish I had been more present then. I wish I had been more engaged then at that point when they were little. And now they're grown up. And we have a different kind of relationship. And we mourn that relationship perhaps when we could protect them from the world or imagined that we could anyway.

James: 05:32

So if life comes in seasons, appreciate the season that you're in. Maybe even take an opportunity after you've listened to this or when you're listening to it to name the season of your life that you're in. Perhaps you're on that cusp of your life where you're at the front end. You're young and you're just beginning and you're trying to make a name for yourself or you're trying to establish yourself. You're trying to figure out exactly how you can be the best you in a world that needs your specific gifts.

James: 06:11

After all, that's what the Infinitely Precious podcast is about. Reminding you that you are infinitely precious for the gift you are. Unconditionally loved as the person that you are. So figuring that out and wanting to give our best, we're working on that. And in that season, there's a lot of new things we're drawing in.

James: 06:32

Perhaps we're in that middle season of our lives when we're wondering about the things that have gone past. Oftentimes that comes with positive reflections of the things that we've done or the things that we wish we had done that are left. And so that sometimes it leads to that mid what we call the middle life crisis. Perhaps you're on that further along on the tail end as things are beginning to no longer be at their apex and sort of declining, decreasing, and you're finding that you can't do all the same things that you used to or that you're seen in a different way than you once were. You feel less valued because somehow society values youth over wisdom and age.

James: 07:23

Not to say that everyone who ages becomes wise. Some folks just become bitter. But that's another podcast or another thought for another day. Appreciating the place that we are, the people that have come into our lives and gone on. And without grasping after the ones that have gone on, it's that same practice I keep talking about that keeps coming up for me every single day.

James: 07:51

Recognize I'm no longer in that season I was in before. It's okay to grieve that season. It was such a great season. I really enjoyed it. There were so many positive things.

James: 08:06

Recognizing it. Maybe taking a moment to grieve it or to name the gifts it gave you that former season, then release it. Release it because it's not here anymore. And dwelling on it only keeps you from fully returning to where you are. Because where I am right now, this season of my life is where I am for better or for worse.

James: 08:35

This is the season I get to be a part of. It's the one I get to live into. And I'd hate to look back on this season somewhere down the road, perhaps, you know, if there is a somewhere down the road for me, look back on this season and feel like I regret that I was so focused on the season before that I didn't lean into this season or that I was so focused on what is yet to come that I didn't really live in the season I'm in. So recognizing, grieving, naming the gifts, releasing, and then returning to the moment so you can really be in the season where you are. This is a very full season of my life.

James: 09:23

I didn't know that it would be a full season but it's filled with lots of things. Some of them are very challenging for me. Concerns about my mom's health. It's one thing that kind of weighs on me. In a new pastoral setting, not so new, ten months in, but still learning the ropes, figuring things out, trying to be me and trying to do the things that are necessary in this particular setting, building the right bridges and loving all the folks that is in itself its own challenge.

James: 09:59

This season is a good season for me. It is a challenging season. It asks a lot of me in this season. But the good news is that I've taken these years that lead up to this moment, and they've prepared me. The good and the bad and the challenges that have come before have prepared me for this season.

James: 10:23

So the question becomes for me, what gifts are this season giving me now? What's rising for me? What am I getting to really experience now that I might not have at an earlier place? How can I really enjoy these moments, savor them for the gift that they are without becoming anxious or concerned or worried about a future over which I have little control except what I do now or regretful of a past that I can no longer do anything about? What would it look like to really live into this moment?

James: 11:01

Give my best. Be the best gift that I am now. Stand the post I've been given now. Because that's another thing that changes in life. The post that we stand.

James: 11:12

Younger generations than mine often find they are changing from one career to another to another to another. Each one for the time that they're in it. The place they belong or at least that feeds them in that moment until they move to the next. They recognize that. I am just on the cusp of a generation that pretty much committed to one thing and did it for their whole life, their whole work life and then retired.

James: 11:42

I kind of have mostly done that, stayed with one thing. But each one of the seasons, each one of the postings of my life have been slightly different. I could take time to reflect on that but what is this posting asking of me? How can I best be my best self and best serve in the capacity given me? The place I am meant to hold.

James: 12:08

And the question for you, how can you, in whatever season you find yourself, be the best gift you were made to be in this moment? What do you bring to this moment? What has life taught you? How can you be the best you in this moment? And when you get caught on the past or in a different season, a season ahead, a season behind, you can hold on.

James: 12:32

You can hold on to it for dear life or you can let it go, recognize where you are, sad to see it go, name the gifts, release it and return to this moment, the moment you have to serve to be you. Remember, no matter how you approach this life and what season you find yourself in, you are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are. Thanks for joining me on the podcast today. If it's been helpful to you, encourage you to share it with others. Until the next time.