A Well-Seasoned Life

You're probably thinking I'm talking about a life well-lived, something good and happy. Sunshine, nice weather. Maybe a big ol family filled with love and a memory bank of stories that amount to a lifetime of awesome experiences. Those are all characteristics of a life well-lived, I think. But I'm talking about a well-seasoned life. The two might be a bit different, let's get into what I mean.

Of the folks that read these blog posts, most of you know that I am a wildland firefighter. I spend about half of my year away from home swinging a saw in an effort to put out the blazes of the West. The other half of the year I typically spend training, traveling, hunting, and enjoying live music when the opportunity arises. Usually, each off-season I feel the need to travel. To find a beach, get out of Dodge, go abroad, leave town, however you wanna put it. It was as if there was something that was telling me, "Go!" and I'd feel guilty if I didn't. For example, on this very day last year I was down on the island of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands training for the upcoming season, and also maybe enjoying some tropical vacation time. On this day, I reached a fitness goal of mine. I promptly celebrated by telling the bartender at the Ritz to "serve me until I drink you out of rum, or until I fall asleep." Well, they ran out of rum, (at least that's what he told me) and I had a hell of a good time making new friends on the sandy beaches of paradise. While it was a great experience and a fun story to tell, this off-season is a bit different. I don't feel the need to go anywhere. I am perfectly content where I am. Part of me wondered why I didn't get the urge to travel this off-season, and then I reframed how I thought about it and wondered, "Well, what if where I need to be this off-season is right where I am?" So I'm taking that thought and running with it.

Maybe you've heard the phrase "life has seasons." I've come to realize how true that really is. That last story was from a time in my life that was a celebratory season. I had just overcome a major surgery, I had just landed a job on my dream crew, I was just then finally relaxing in paradise after a near-1000 overtime hour fire season. That "season" soon passed, as seasons do. While I'm not exactly sure what season I am currently in, I can say with confidence that at some point down the road I will be able to look back and see exactly what season I am in, and why I'm in it. My goal for this post is to maybe provide some reassurance for whoever might need it. Whoever might be in a situation, or a season that they do not understand. Perhaps it's feeling like not-so-much of a celebratory season. That's okay. There are ups and downs to this whole season thing. There is good and there is bad. Sometimes there is more good than bad, and unfortunately, sometimes there seems to be way more bad than good for reasons we can't even begin to understand. But without one, the other ceases to exist. 

Rather than spew on about a personal experience, I'm going to share a bit of wisdom from the Good Book and a man named Job. In short, Job was a righteous man. He had everything he could possibly want and need. Every day was a good day for him; there were no bad seasons. Until one day, when it was suggested to God that Job is only a good and just man because He has given him only good fortune. In order to prove that suggestion wrong, it was determined severe misfortune would be placed upon Job to try and "break" him. Soon, Job endured immense suffering. The only thing that was not taken from him was his own life. Not knowing what he did wrong to deserve this suffering, he demands an answer from God on why he has to endure it. God hears and confronts Job in the form of a raging storm.

God begins to question Job on why he thinks he can decide what is fair or not fair. He asks Job questions that he couldn't possibly answer, the answers in which he couldn't possibly comprehend. I think this is similar to us when we can't understand why we are experiencing the things that we have to go through in our days. When God is pointing out Job’s limited perspective on how life ought to be and what is or isn’t just, He brings up two terrifyingly awesome creatures: Behemoth and Leviathan. The two are creations of God, meant to represent the disorder and danger that exist in His world. Although that is what they represent, neither is inherently bad. But neither is “safe." The point that God is trying to make is that though His world is amazing and beautiful, it is not perfect or safe. Just like the two creatures. Bad things can still happen. Bad seasons can still come.

The takeaway from the book can be described as a wisdom builder. In Job 28:28 the Lord says, “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.” As mentioned before, Job demanded an answer from God on why he is suffering. To put in a broader perspective, I think it's easy for all of us to find ourselves asking the same question when we run into troubles. "If I am good, if I am doing everything right, then why am I suffering?" Or, "If the world is right, if the world is built to be good and just, then why is there suffering in the world?" And though God does not directly answer Job’s question, or our questions, we can still draw an answer. I think it's fair to say that while we live in an amazing and beautiful world, it is not a world designed in a way to prevent suffering. And our perspective on suffering or the reasons why we endure it is infinitely smaller than God’s. Though we cannot understand it, we are asked to trust it. Because God is just. If we all feared the Lord, but always had it our way, then what would we fear Him for? Nothing? Through Job's experience, and perhaps through some of your own, we have a definite reason to be all the wiser. To have that true wisdom, in other words.

At the end of the day we can't answer why bad things happen to good people. We can't understand why bad seasons come, or why good seasons go. When we search for reasons we tend to simplify God and His wisdom, or we slide into accusing God based on limited and closed-viewed "evidence." However, we are invited to trust God and His wisdom. He may bring us good seasons, and he may bring us bad seasons. But without one, the other doesn't exist. So as you can see, we need the latter to have the former. And the best we can hope for, is to live a life well-seasoned.