I feel like I've wasted so much time. I can't get any of it back.

A wasted season isn't a wasted life. The wise man looked back at every season and found they were all part of one rhythm — even the ones that felt empty. Starting now isn't late. It's exactly when your next season begins.

The conversation

The child: “Daddy God, I feel like I've wasted so much time. I can't get any of it back.”

God: “Tell Me what you think you lost.”

The child: “Years going the wrong direction, doing things that didn't matter.”

God: “There was a wise man once who sat down and looked at everything — every season of his life, every effort, every loss.”

The child: “What did he find?”

God: “That there's a time for everything. A time to plant and a time to pull up. A time to tear down and a time to build.”

God: “He wasn't saying none of it mattered. He was saying it was all part of the rhythm.”

The child: “But some of those seasons felt completely wasted.”

God: “A fallow field looks empty. But something's happening underground that you can't see yet.”

God: “The season you call wasted taught you something no shortcut could have.”

The child: “I just wish I'd started sooner.”

God: “Starting now isn't late. It's exactly when your next season begins.”

The child: “Okay. This is my season now.”

God: “And I'll be in every one of them.”

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:" Ecclesiastes 3:1, KJV