The End of Mango Season

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE MANGOES (especially apple mangoes because the seed to pulp ratio is exquisite!).

(FYI, please, this is my observation) January to March is Kenyan summer, and in my opinion, fruit tastes sweetest here. Maybe it's the effect of the sun, concentrating the sugar in the fruit. I am not sure, but catch me with a mango in my mouth at all times this season!

I love how God uses the natural things to help our understanding of spiritual matters. (Jeremiah 35 is an example).

He's using mangoes to teach us today. 🤭

As I said, and from my experience as a mango lover, they seem to taste sweetest in a certain season. I find that mangoes lose their abundant sweetness as the year goes by. We can give many reasons for that, but even when the sun is high up in the sky in September, the mangoes don't taste as good as they do in the January to March period. I believe it is purely a matter of season.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NKJV:

""To everything there is a season,A time for every purpose under heaven: A time [a]to be born,And a time to die;A time to plant,And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill,And a time to heal;A time to break down,And a time to build up; A time to weep,And a time to laugh;A time to mourn,And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones,And a time to gather stones;A time to embrace,And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain,And a time to lose;A time to keep,And a time to throw away; A time to tear,And a time to sew;A time to keep silence,And a time to speak; A time to love,And a time to hate;A time of war,And a time of peace."

This is why it is essential to lean on God and inquire of Him concerning our lives, so that we can navigate each season with the appropriate amount of effort. For some of us, we are in a season of planting and for others, in a season of reaping. For some, it is a season of silence and retreat and yet for others, a season of conquest and unveiling.

I have seen that God gives grace for each season. Sometimes I look back at some of the most difficult times of my life and wonder how I made it alive. I then realised that God's grace played a huge role. I also know that the reason I survived is that God had equipped me for that particular season. (How have your toughest seasons looked, and would you go through them again with the same resilience now?)

Navigating Seasons

God is organised. He is a master planner. He has organised each of our days. Your days have been numbered, and God has accounted for them all. Whew! What relief! We do not have to lean on our understanding to wade through life! (Proverbs 3:5-6).

But a word of caution: Do not stay too long in a season God has moved on from.

Move quickly. Move with intent.

"Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”" 1 Samuel 16:1 (NKJV).

Samuel was a prophet, but he was human. He knew that God had shifted gears and chosen another king, but he still loved Saul. Perhaps he was still caught up in the days of old and the glory of Saul's earlier days. He may have fantasised of a time when Saul would be reconciled to God and things would move on as if no harm had ever been done. But that was not the case. God had shifted seasons, and the time for a new king was here. Once God had set His mind, there was no going back, and Samuel needed to get with the programme because there was stuff to do.

What is your'Saul'? And how long will you hold on to ‘him’?

Some seasons demand staying even when it is not easy. Take Joseph, for example. The man of God went through it (whew!). But imagine if he decided to get on a camel back home because things got too hard. Imagine if he said, "I am so done!" and packed up to another land because the heat in the oven got too much. Would Judah have been saved? How differently would the story of salvation look?

If God has called you to stay, stay and wait on Him until He gives a go-ahead.

Waiting on God is simply seeking Him (Jeremiah 29:13) and keeping your heart soft and expectant toward God. God speaks, and He answers as we seek Him diligently (Hebrews 11:6).

Overall, whichever season you are in, God is present and able to help you navigate it with wisdom. He understands our weaknesses, and that is why it is crucial to surrender to Him and not consider ourselves able to do it "to some extent" before we can call upon Him. Stay in a child's place before the Lord and let Him lead.

Just like the annual season for our mango sweetness, your current season is temporary. Steward it well, however it looks like, and turn to Christ, who can keep you through it.

With Love,

W.