The language of “seasons” in our lives is a familiar and useful, if tired, metaphor. If familiarity doesn’t breed contempt, it certainly does cause us to stop thinking about what we might really be saying when we throw it out there. When we talk about the seasons of our lives, it is a way in which we talk about life stages. Season talk typically means something like:
- Spring = childhood and adolescence
- Summer = young adulthood (to age 40 or so)
- Autumn = midlife and second adulthood (40-70)
- Winter = elder years (70+)
My best guess is that this handy shorthand to describe the arc of our lives comes from the language of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and has been embedded in our consciousness by Pete Seeger’s folk song (popularized by the Byrds) Turn, Turn, Turn.* Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us there is an a fixed place in time for every stage in our lives, and specific movements happen within each of these seasons for God’s purposes and our good. One season’s growth is necessary for the purpose of the next. You can’t have autumn’s fruit without spring’s flowers and summer’s rapid growth and development. [Read more]