A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post that talked about how gratitude to God can look different in our good times and our bad.  If you missed it, you may check it out here.

Apparently, I’m not quite done with that topic because something similar has been on my heart the past week or so, and I’d like to share it with you today.

Again, I want to make a comparison between our good seasons and our bad seasons, and while I draw on my own experience, I hope it has a broader application for all of us.

Rather than looking at “gratitude,” I want to focus on the biblical lessons we learn through those different seasons.  My own experience with the mountain tops and valleys has helped me more clearly see not only how those lessons are different, but more importantly, WHY they are different.  And how that points to the compassion and grace of God.

This is a multi-decade look into my rear-view mirror, taking in the sunshine seasons of my life, which was the majority of it until the past 9-10 years.  Sure, there were some difficult days such as the deaths of both parents, but overall, it was a blessed time for me.

I didn’t recognize what I was learning at the time, but I see it more clearly as I look back on it.  Here’s what I now see I took away from those days in the sunshine:

• An awareness of the myriad ways God had blessed me
• What it means to truly enjoy the gifts from God
• The cultivation of a heart of gratitude over those blessings
• The opportunity to bless others out of our abundance, whether it be financial, emotional or spiritual
• Years of sitting under solid biblical teachings
• Getting my theology firmly in place.
• A building up, layer upon layer, of a deeper understanding of what the Bible teaches about God and his character and his promises

It’s not a bad list, is it? Certainly all areas that are important for us to understand and develop as believers.

Are you living in the sunshine right now?  Might be a little harder with these pandemic days, for sure!  But there are still blessings to be found even through days such as these.  If your life is primarily crisis-free now, I would encourage you to make your own list of what you’re learning from God.  Feel free to borrow from mine if you’d like!  But I bet you can come up with some other, more personal lessons of your own.

How lovely if we could stop the blog post right here because we’re all living in the sunshine.  But we know that isn’t the reality of this world. God is the God of all seasons, so let’s take a look at what can be learned in those shadows.  Again, let me draw on the period of my life that has been characterized by some dark shadows.

Here are a few of the changes as we moved from the sunshine to the shadows.  Dale was diagnosed with dementia in 2008.  The disease progressed and began to affect our marriage. We had to move off our acreage in the country and become city slickers – a difficult decision for both of us after 27 years. Dale’s digression over the next few years resulted in his move to a care facility and his eventual death.

That death, of course, brought the deepest of shadows into my life in ways I could never have prepared for. Even three and a half years later, I would consider my life one still living in those shadows.  However, the lessons learned, and benefits gained there, are clearly from a deeper dimension.

Here’s the shadow list:

• Every sunshine lesson learned about God’s character and promises has now been practically lived out.  My HEART now knows what my mind understood in the sunshine.
• I know what it means to trust God completely with every area of my life, especially when I don’t have a direction of my own.
• God has shown his love to me in powerful and surprising ways.
• I hear God’s voice more clearly than any other time in my life.
• The lessons learned are deep and frequent, showing up virtually every time I read God’s word or other scriptural resources.
• God has given me the opportunity to share these lessons with others.

Some of the lessons and benefits are so mind-boggling that I struggle to even put them into words. But they are amazing and deepen my love for God in ways I never experienced in the sunshine.

Are you living a shadow life right now?  If not, chances are good you’ll be there sometime.  I encourage you to focus on what God wants you to learn, and the blessings he wants you to experience in the shadows.

They are more powerful and more life-changing than anything you’ll learn in the sunshine, regardless of how important both seasons are. I believe God gives us the deeper blessings in the shadows because that’s exactly where we need them most.  And our good Father always knows exactly what we need.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18