One early morning last fall, I was driving to work, lost in my usual routine. As I approached a major intersection, where I usually get stuck in traffic in the left turning lane, I looked over to my left and was so moved by the beauty of the dawn's glistening field. There's an old farm house that's been fixed up and an impressive, gnarly aging sycamore tree near the corner. The scene quieted my heart and I began jotting down lyrics in my phone as the red light seemed to last forever. Something about that moment stirred my soul and I felt like God was giving me inspiration for a new song, a new season, something coming...
Probably about two months later in mid November, I was leaving Philadelphia after a Brooke Fraser concert (cheers for Brooke, her concert was phenomenal!). I was in the back seat of a friend's car and as we were turning onto this street and that street, getting ourselves lost on the way out of Philly, the inspiration hit again. There were sparkling blue lights on a skyscraper, while a daunting dragon statue glared at me through the window from one street corner. We ended up near an isolated area with train tracks and we had some laughs. Earlier that day I had heard news from a friend that had ignited a hope in my heart. Life in that moment was filled with expectation for the future, grace for the past, and peace for the present.
A few days later I took the collage of words from my phone and began piecing together a song. (Anyone who knows me knows I have quite an attachment with my old palm centro phone. I can jot down lyrics in the memo area with a breeze and record audio song ideas into the phone to create little mp3s for myself to go back to...so handy when inspiration strikes while driving or doing another task and I don't have time to sit at the piano and write! Now, thanks to my friend Eric from New Mexico, I have his old palm centro that he sent me since mine was dying. My world of songwriting and keeping a clear calendar shall go on!) As I organized the jumbled up lyric ideas, I sat down at the beautiful baby grand at the kids' house where I nanny (I'm so grateful they love music! They sit on the piano bench with me or love to dance as I test out new tunes...) The song "Coming Season" was beginning to flow...but I let it rest for about another month, until the night before I went into Morningstar Studios to do the initial recording of songs. I scrambled and went through old journals and notes, piecing about three final songs together so I could go in and have a lot of songs to choose from for the final recording (we chose 14 songs out of 29! Hope you enjoy the 14 which made the cut!) “Coming Season” was one of those songs I finished writing that night!
So...to tie all these strings together and paint a picture of what the song is all about...it is a song of hope. A cheerful inkling of hope. The beautiful promise the Lord gave to the prophet Isaiah, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." (Chapter 43:18-19) Whatever is in your past, whatever you are going through right now, there remains hope for the future and a God who is there, fighting for you, making streams in the desert to refresh you.
There are days when sometimes I think there is nothing new to write about, to sing about...but that morning with the fog and mist over the farm field, I had a fresh inspiration after a dry period. The Lord breathed hope into my spirit and a vision of great expectations for the glory to come. There will be beautiful, new seasons in this life. Laughter. Getting back up after falling down. Smiles after tears. Surprises. Turns. Wins after the losses. Above all, there will be a day when death will truly stare in the face of grace, and all the tears will be dried, and the victory will be ours who are in Christ Jesus. The wisest man who ever lived remarked about our Great God, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). So I urge you, my friend, to hold onto hope for tomorrow and to hold on to the everlasting hope of the life that is to come. May the fears of your heart be settled when you come to know Jesus in an intimate way. He is the Savior who hung on the cross for you and arose from the tomb, conquering sin, death, and heartache, so that He may freely offer us forgiveness, life, and joy.
Please do not miss this truth… we were not made for here alone, we were made to live in a better country, a land that seems far off, but it is only a split second away...for in the twinkling of an eye, we will be changed and we will find ourselves beyond the curtain of this toilsome life...and only one thing will determine if we spend eternity in grace, stunning union with Christ, and fellowship with those we love, or if we will be alone, death will have the final say, and we will be void of any joy, light, or goodness...that one determining factor seems so small...but it is paramount. It is belief. I ask you, do you believe? Believe in the Living God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Believe today and you have the hope of paradise. Believe now and these light and momentary troubles will fade in comparison to the glory that awaits you.
There is a beautiful account of the coming season of victory in Revelation 12. Be ready to read a wild and vivid tale...a tale that seems far too strange to be true, but it is true. There is a dragon. There is a woman. There are dark chains and there is Liberty hanging on the hinges of prophecy yet to be fulfilled. See for yourself and enjoy the snapshot of the story, of the season, that is to come.
Love & Hope!
~Caitlin Jane
