🕊️ A Year That Held a Decade: My Memoir in Seasons (from December 2024 to November 2025) written by Mathias Etsey Edor, MD, PhD (c)
"To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven..." - Ecclesiastes 3:1
❄️ WINTER (December 2024 to February 2025): The Sacred Silence
I began 2025 not with the clamour of resolutions, ambitions, or the noise of the world, but with a holy hush that had settled in and by December 2024. As this year (2025) unfolded, and as December 2025 whispers the closing of my third decade or the winding up of my 20s, I see that these past months were never merely a passage of time. They were a coronation of becoming.
In the stillness of winter, I returned inward. I stood again in the soil of a new foundation; humble, sacred, ancient. The silence taught me that beginnings often grow invisible before they bloom, that roots deepen before shoots emerge. Medical school struggles, nights of prayer and wrestling with faith, seasons of scarcity and waiting; all these shaped the unseen architecture of my life.
To my younger readers: do not fear the hidden seasons. The snow does not smother the seed; it shields it. The frost does not halt growth; it strengthens it. Quiet, obscurity, and patience are not obstacles but they are divine preparation. Your roots are forming where the world cannot yet see, but in due time, they will hold you steady for the storms and the sun alike.
🌸 SPRING (March to May 2025): The Season of Renewal and Bloom
Spring arrived softly, like a gentle illumination of destiny. March 2025 marked a personal and spiritual renaissance; it was the full bloom of the (my) Mandela Washington Fellowship experience. In those rooms of global discourse, I met not only Africa but also myself, anew and deeper. I discovered that the measure of significance is never applause or recognition but service, obedience, and rootedness.
This was a season of cross-pollination: faith and policy, medicine and governance, youth and wisdom. Every sunrise devotion, every lecture, every conversation was a reminder that influence without purpose is fleeting, but influence in service is eternal.
To any (an) emerging leader reading this: you do not need a stage to matter. Soil matters more than spotlight. Roots matter more than reach. Be formed in the secret, sacred spaces, and the world will bloom through you when the time is right. Hidden seasons are holy. Growth in silence is still growth. Trust the process; trust the One who forms you.
☀️ SUMMER (June to August 2025): The Weight and Light of Responsibility
Summer came with heat, not of destruction, but of responsibility. Speaking engagements, research milestones, youth summits; the world called, and I responded. And yet, with the gifts of opportunity came the weight of stewardship. Influence is heavier than ambition. Leadership is not a crown to wear but a cross to carry.
In this season, I learned that excellence without surrender can burn; but excellence surrendered to Christ becomes light; guiding individuals, families, and systems. The world measures success in accolades, but eternity measures it in obedience. I discovered that stretching, even when uncomfortable, is the soil where purpose deepens.
To every leader-in-waiting: your path is not about competing; it is about completing the purpose God has placed in your generation. Influence is obedience. Leadership is service. Let your pace be defined by purpose, not pressure; let your light shine as a reflection of the One who calls you.
🍂 FALL (September to November 2025): Harvest and Legacy
And now, as the leaves of November fall and December 2025 draws near, I see a harvest in the letting go. Fall is not about loss; it is about legacy. It is about releasing ego, applause, and attachments to fleeting recognition. What remains is essence; Christ in us, hope in us, love through us.
I release this year as Moses released Canaan to the people: with reverence, gratitude, and humility. The past three years and from 2022 to 2024, and the unfolding tapestry of the last decade from 2016 to 2025, have been seasons of becoming, refining, and learning to trust.
Thank you to every mentor, friend, colleague, and soul who walked beside me in this journey. Your presence was a vessel of grace, wisdom, and encouragement.
🌍 FINAL REFLECTIONS: A Grateful Heart for 2025
Let your winters form you. Let your springs renew you. Let your summers stretch you. And when your falls come, may they find you pouring into others the treasures heaven poured into you.
2025 has been a year of grace, of quiet formation, of expansive service, and of deep gratitude. I stand at its close humbled, enriched, and more ready than ever to step into the next season, with Christ at the centre, purpose in the heart, and humility in the hands.
May our (your) life be fruitful. May our (your) hill rise. May our (your) light, formed in stillness and tested in heat, reach to the ends of the earth.
𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐚𝐬 𝐄𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐲 𝐄𝐝𝐨𝐫, 𝐌𝐃, 𝐏𝐡𝐃 (𝐜) | 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓
