Sabbath Thoughts: A Time for Everything

The sundial in my garden reminds me of . . .

 Ecclesiastes 3 

1 TO EVERYTHING there is a season,

and a time for every activity or purpose under heaven: 

2 a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build up,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

11 God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.   12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.   13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.

What an apt description of the pilgrimage we call Life, with all that human beings are heir to.

The verse says, "I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy . . ." —yet it is clear from the context that happiness is not the goal, it is the byproduct of doing "good while they live."   Happiness expressing itself as Contentment, as Joy, not the frenetic, excited state too many associate with happiness.  

"To everything there is a season" . . . I love that our Time as human beings is set in a seasonal context.  Each year rolls around, from winter through springtime, seedtime, and harvest, and then the cycle begins again, giving us the sense that each year we are beginning again.  There can be freshness, newness this time.  Mistakes made in the past don't have to characterize this new year's cycle.  We can have a fresh start.

A dear friend once said to me after an effort that I had made that did not have a good result, "It's all right . . . It all counts."  That's profound, I think.

What matters is that we begin again. It all counts............. Every time you begin again, it counts. A principle I have certainly come to realize during the course of my life. I've started over many times, and each time it counted. Even in the times I felt like I had failed, and my failure had caused me to have to begin again, I discovered it still counted. The point is to have the courage to begin again.

Give Thanks
within the sheltered space,
for seeds and roots
and mossy space.
Contained in every
season’s end:
The blessing to begin again.
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