And a Time to Every Purpose
1 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break 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 cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8 A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
Ecclesiasties 3:1-8 9 (NKJV)
These verses come to mind every year as we wait for spring to finally arrive in New England. They have especially been on my heart recently. Just as we hoped for peace, war has been declared on Ukraine. Just as more and more people began to understand why BLACK LIVES MATTER, those voices are being silenced. (I swear this is not a political blog.) And on March 10, 2022, my dear sister Sylvia (aka Syllie) died. It was sudden. We are all in shock. It is beyond human understanding. My heart clings to these words, knowing that the Mind of God is beyond all human comprehension. It is the time to morn, the time to weep, the time to loose.
But these verses also remind me that there is still joy to be found in the world. We each have a limited span of time to walk this little blue marble in space. None of us knows how much time we have. We need to love, to dance, to create, to plant, and to grow as long as we are here.
Turning to my garden, turning over the soil, seeing it all coming back to life- I cannot express how therapeutic it is.
Every day, the earth is a little greener and my heart is a little less heavy. I have so many wonderful memories of my sister. As the seasons turn, I will hold those memories dearly in my heart.
