“There is a time for everything, and a session for eery activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV)
In South Texas, the seasons are pretty conflicted. It’s mostly some version of summer here but we do get occasional winter rains and overnight freezes. You can’t fight it, or control it, you just have to go with it. Check the forecast, grab a jacket if you need it, dress in layers because the AC is always ice cold inside and brace for the heat of out of doors most days.
I need to learn to live at the same level of cooperation with the the seasons of life as appointed by the Lord. He alone turns the earth and sets the angle of my soul: the spring and summer and fall and winter happen as He wills it. When seasons change, we can’t turn around and go where we’ve been. We’ve got to let the days lead on as the calendar pages turn.
My Daily Office book asks a hard question about seasons and the desire pull a u-turn when the weather changes: what ‘road closed’ sign is before you today that may be God’s way of direction you toward something new?
I read the question and my soul nearly shouted my answer; child-rearing has a ‘road closed’ sign for me now. I suppose I am still making peace with it. We saw our son yesterday. He and I walked a 5k and shared a meal and as much conversation as we could cram in a couple hours. Before we knew it, our time was up, he was off to work and we were back in the car, driving away. If I’m being honest, it’s still hard to leave our kids to their own lives. I’m not trying to live in the past, I just can’t believe it’s over.
I’m still grieving. I’m still aching over the accrued losses that have stripped away precious time with my most precious people. It’s hard not to grab at the sand in the proverbial hourglass because I’m painfully aware of just how temporary all this is. And at the same time, I know better than to waste the passing breath of this season sighing about the last, but still, I struggle.
“I know there is nothing better for people than to be happy and good while they live.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:12 NIV)
Happy and good is a daily decision. We get to choose to enter into this moment and make the best of it. We are tempted to sit in the past and yearn for days gone by, but such longing does us no good. Today is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.
Lord, please help us to be happy and do good in this season, whatever this season might be. May we be sure of Your sovereign hand and certain of heaven making sense of it all. We watch the hourglass empty – but we can’t see it’s collection. It spills not another little glass tube but into the dunes of eternity. Our little time spent well here – loving God and loving others – will one day give way to an unbroken shoreline of heaven. Any small investment of our affection in this life will multiply exponentially in the next. We trust You for the shore we cannot yet see. Amen.