Season of life: Success, loyalty, and the cycle of rise and fall

Life operates in seasons. You have your “Cocoa Season”, a wet season where everything you touch turns to gold. But there are also dry seasons, when no matter how much effort you put in, growth seems to stall.

In the Bible, Joseph understood this. He did not just enjoy the seven years of plenty in Egypt. He prepared for the seven years of famine.

“Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. He stored in every city the food from the fields surrounding it.” (Genesis 41:48–49)

Even ancient historians like Herodotus describe how Egyptian granaries were carefully organized to survive famines. Joseph’s planning aligns with real historical practices.

Job (Job 29) also had his Cocoa Season. He remembered the days of his prime, when young men stepped aside and elders honored him:

“When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.” (Job 29:11–12)

Scholars of the ancient Near East, like John Walton, note that social honor in that era was often tied to acts of justice and generosity. Job’s “season of honor” shows that prosperity was recognized through moral action. As Ecclesiastes reminds us:

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Thinkers like Ibn Khaldun also observed that societies naturally rise and fall in cycles. No period of prosperity lasts forever.

History shows that power is never permanent. Many empires once believed they would last forever. They all fell.

Akkadian Empire

Egyptian Empire

Achaemenid (Persian) Empire

Macedonian Empire

Roman Empire

Byzantine Empire

Umayyad Caliphate

Mongol Empire

Ottoman Empire

Mali Empire

Spanish Empire

British Empire

Napoleon once said,

“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.”

Historians like Arnold Toynbee observed that civilizations rise and fall because of internal decay, external pressures, and social rigidity. This shows that no dominion lasts forever.

The impermanence of empires is not just a lesson for nations. It also applies to personal success. Just as kingdoms rise and fall, so do moments of glory in our own lives. In those moments, the true hearts of those around us are revealed. Success shows the true hearts of those around you. Take Dembele, the footballer. After winning a major trophy, he saw his childhood friend Moustapha crying beside him. Both had dreamed of football stardom, but only Dembele’s star shone brighter. Yet Moustapha did not turn jealous. He stayed loyal. That is the essence of the “bro code.” Compare that to Paul Pogba, whose own brother allegedly tried to extort him. Not everyone will clap for you in your season of harvest. Even Aristotle recognized this principle in Nicomachean Ethics. True friends rejoice in each other’s success, while superficial friendships are revealed when fortunes change.

The Lesson

Enjoy your wet seasons but store up for the dry. Value loyal hearts and remember that change is inevitable. Life, like nature, moves in cycles. What thrives today may wither tomorrow, and what struggles now may bloom in time.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)