“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
-Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)
A LIFE STORY: THE TRAIN THAT NEVER LEFT THE STATION
There was a man whose name is Iweoha worked at a railway station for over thirty years. In his younger days, the station was busy, trains arrived daily, people traveled far, goods moved constantly, and life flowed through that place like a river.
As time passed, a new railway route was built miles away. Gradually, fewer trains stopped at the old station. Then one day, the final announcement came: the station was officially closed.
Everyone moved on. Vendors relocated. Travelers followed the new route. But the man refused to leave. Each morning, he wore his uniform, swept the platform, and waited for trains that would never come.
When asked why he stayed, he replied,
“This station fed my family. It made me who I am.”
Years later, the building collapsed from neglect, not because trains stopped coming, but because he refused to stop waiting.
Many lives quietly resemble that station.
UNDERSTANDING SEASONS
Life does not remain the same because growth requires movement. What works in one season may fail in another, not because it was wrong, but because its time has passed.
A season ends when its purpose is fulfilled. Holding on beyond that point turns strength into strain and blessing into burden.
God designed life to move forward. Seasons are not meant to imprison us; they are meant to prepare us.
WHY PEOPLE CLING TO EXPIRED SEASONS
People often hold on because familiarity feels safer than uncertainty. Even when progress stops, routine provides comfort.
Fear whispers:
“What if nothing works again?”
“What if I lose who I am?”
“What if starting over is worse?”
So people stay, long after joy has left, long after growth has stopped, long after peace has faded.
What once served you can begin to suffocate you if you refuse to release it.
WHEN STAYING TOO LONG BECOMES A BURDEN
There is a difference between patience and delay.
Patience waits with expectation.
Delay waits with fear.
Staying too long drains energy, dulls vision, and turns responsibility into resentment. Effort increases, but results disappear. Motion continues, but progress dies.
This is the hidden cost of expired seasons, they consume strength without giving life.
WHEN GOD MOVES AHEAD
Scripture shows that God often moves before people are ready.
“Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.”
-Deuteronomy 2:3 (KJV)
God’s instruction was not an insult, it was mercy. Staying longer would have turned a journey into a prison.
When God shifts direction, remaining behind is not faithfulness. It is resistance disguised as comfort.
SIGNS A SEASON HAS ENDED
A season may have expired when:
Passion turns into pressure
Progress stops despite effort
Peace disappears without clear reason
Growth feels blocked instead of challenged
You are surviving where you were meant to flourish
These signs are not condemnation; they are invitations to move.
THE DANGER OF MISPLACED LOYALTY
Loyalty is powerful, but misplaced loyalty is dangerous.
Being faithful to yesterday can make you unprepared for tomorrow. Honoring the past should never cancel obedience to the present.
God does not measure devotion by how long you stay, but by how well you follow.
THE COURAGE TO LET GO
Letting go is not failure.
Ending is not betrayal.
Moving forward is not ingratitude.
It takes courage to admit that something good has finished. It takes strength to trust that what lies ahead is necessary, even when unclear.
Release creates room. Movement restores life.
RUNNING THE RIGHT RACE
The worst race in life is not being slow.
It is running faithfully in the wrong direction.
Some people exhaust themselves maintaining what God has already concluded. Others find renewal because they respond when seasons change.
Wisdom listens. Growth obeys. Progress follows.
CONCLUSION
Do not cling to what no longer produces life.
Do not fight endings that are meant to free you.
Do not wait for trains that will never return.
Move when the season moves.
Because in life, refusing to move does not stop change, it only leaves you behind.
