A Prayer for Gladness When Good Seasons End

There is a time for everything. My time as a basketball mom will come to an end tonight–unless our Eagles pull off a major upset in the Wisconsin state tournament. 

They could. 

But I’m preparing my heart for this 15-year basketball season to end. But if I’m honest, the idea of being a basketball mom goes back at least another 15 years to my engagement to my husband, Jim. 

A Long Time Coming

Back in the day, Jim was a baller, and I played too. So I couldn’t help imagining what a child of ours could do. 

I remember like yesterday this question on a baby shower game. 

“What will this baby most likely grow up to be: a) scholar, b) athlete c) musician d) life of the party?”  

It was close between a) and b). But “athlete” got the most votes. 

It took a few years but this only son of my womb did grow into sports. After years of fits and starts and community camps and summer leagues, he transferred from a large public school to a small Christian school to start his junior year, in a class of 15.

Playing varsity ball at this little school was a perk. 

A Short, Sweet Season

But that wasn’t in God’s plan. It wasn’t that season, yet.

There is a state rule that doesn’t allow kids who transfer after sophomore year to play varsity ball their first year. So last year, I got to watch my boy play JV, again. I savored each second, but couldn’t help imagining this precious year. 

It started in November and we’ve had 25 sweet games. Highs and lows, yes—but every minute he’s on the court and every minute we’re cheering in the stands is a kind gift from our good God.

And that last minute of this gift season will likely end tonight, March 6, 2026. 

But God’s word has been strong, helping me deal with my anticipatory grief at the change of this blessed season.

Two Glad Passages

Two scriptures have been a balm as these days come to an end. 

The first passage is Ecclesiastes 5:18-20.

“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.”

When we do our work, and take joy in our “lot”—in berries and coffee, in splendid sunsets and high school basketball games—our heavenly Father is honored, for he is the Giver of these things. 

When Satisfaction Comes to Rest

In his exposition on Ecclesiastes, author David Gibson observes that joy comes when we acknowledge “that we are time-bound creatures and God is the Eternal Creator.”

Likewise, 

“Satisfaction lodges in my heart when I accept the boundaries of my creaturely existence and accept the seasons of my life as coming from his good and wise hands.” 

David Gibson, “Living Life Backward”

In other words, we satisfaction and joy come as we embrace truth that “he changes times and seasons” (Daniel 2:21). Accepting life like this is the gift of God. I’m pretty sure it’s a gift he loves to give to us. 

Make Us Glad

The other words are from Moses, in Psalm 90:12-15, 

12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.

In other words, Moses prayed that God would match his mercy to the trouble of each new day.  “Incidentally,” Derek Kidner notes, “the New Testament will outrun verse 15’s modest prayer for joys to balance sorrows, by its promise of ‘an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison’ (2 Cor. 4:17).” 

My Prayer as a (Sweet) Season Ends

Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. One day, we won’t grieve the end of sweet seasons. We will be forever occupied with gladness of heart.

But for now, for this day, I simply pray, 

“Lord, would you give gladness to match my sadness as this season comes to an end?” 

Maybe the Preacher in Ecclesiastes was echoing Moses. They both acknowledged that wisdom comes from acknowledging that this life is a mist, and gladness comes when we accept the seasons of our life as coming from our heavenly Father’s good and wise hands.

But more—the assurance I need going into the game tonight—both Spirit-inspired authors declare that God gives satisfaction and gladness even as sweet seasons come to an end. 

If you count preschool, pee-wee summer ball, my son played basketball for 15 years—a mist. He played varsity ball one very sweet year—a blink. God chose the seasons.  

I choose to receive my lot. With gladness, I choose to receive the seasons.

For this God is our God for ever and ever:

he will be our guide even unto death.

—Psalm 48:14