A Time for EVERYTHING?

Is it really June?  I am sure I’m not the only one who feels like we’ve been robbed of a year. By all accounts, 2020 has been a tough one.  None of us planned our first six months to look like it did!  

At the turn of the year, I’ve developed the habit of setting aside a day to journal about the year that is passed and make some goals for the one ahead.  It’s become my practice to ask God for a spiritual goal - to show me a “word” for the new year, generally a godly attribute I feel led to grow in. In year’s past: Joy, gratitude, steadfastness, and grace… you get the picture.

Unfortunately in the craziness of all our transitions as 2019 turned to 2020, for the first time in many years, I did not practice this discipline. If I had asked, though, I wonder what the word would have been? I’m doubtful it would have been any of the words that have thus far dominated my year—words I would NOT have chosen, words like disequilibrium, pandemic, social distancing, injustice, death, uncertainty, and if I’m honest, on a more personal level, loneliness, isolation, untethered. I don’t like any of these words! 

Even without the craziness of Covid-19, 2020 was always going to be a shattering of routine. We’ve sought to adjust to a new city, new home, new church and denomination, distance from dear friends and the comforts that come from being known and having a shared history. We threw a new puppy into the mix for good measure.

Navigating the Pandemic while trying to find our footing has meant dealing with our fair share of discouragement, and I know each person reading this has their own unique challenges to add to an already challenging time. The more recent events around social injustice and the civil unrest threaten to put many of us over the edge! I’ve longed more than ever for the returning of the Lord. 

My friend and previous pastor often said, when you have more questions than answers, more confusion than clarity, focus and meditate on God’s word—searching for and clinging to what you DO KNOW about Him.  What do I KNOW? God is loving, just, steadfast and faithful. He sees me. He sees it all! He sees George Floyd’s family, his community, and his killer. He is sovereign and will restore and reconcile all things one day. As I meditate on these truths, and they become embedded in my heart as things I KNOW, I can hand over my anxiety to Him. 

Today, I read Ecclesiastes 3 again, and it seemed more real and applicable to life than ever before.  

A Time for Everything

3  There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

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

3     a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

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….

17  I said to myself,

‘God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.’

If I’m honest, I am avoider of all things unpleasant when possible.  I like that there is a time to be born, but don’t want to think about the time to die.  I am all-in for the laughing and dancing, but no-thank you to the mourning.  I don’t want to refrain from embracing!  This southern girl is a hugger, and when the pandemic is over, I’m looking forward to meeting (and hugging) many more of you! 

Until then, I am trying to let this time of mourning direct me to the embrace of God and his Word. I’m trying to go to Him and be reminded what I KNOW to be true: My God is perfect love, justice, and faithfulness. He is the judge, the Savior and the Redeemer of the world, and He tells me that there is a time for everything. I can trust his sovereignty and goodness.  I can pray for the fruit of the Spirit to be born in me in ALL TIMES and that I would trust him even in the seasons that I would never choose.  

As we read Ecclesiastes 3 and apply it to our lives in 2020, what are some questions we might ask?

Lord, what is it that you are doing in my life during this particular appointed time?  

What are you doing in our culture and world that you would like me to join in?

Are there new things you want to birth or plant in me? Are there things in my life that need to die or be uprooted?

Am I remembering to dance and laugh, even as I mourn?

Am I willing to be silent and not always speak?

What should I hate and how should I love?  

What does it look like in our Christian worldview to have a time for war and a time for peace?  

Thank you Lord that you hold us, you see us, you walk with us and comfort us.  Thank you that Your Word assures us that there really is a time for everything, even though there are many things we would not choose.  Thank you that as the Holy Spirit indwells us, we are never alone in our mourning or in our celebrating, you are our comfort and help in troubles.  Thank you for forgiving us of all our many sins and calling us your sons and daughters. Thank you that you have placed us in the Body of Christ, your church, so that we have community and companionship even in a pandemic and can’t physically be together.  We love you Lord, be our strength.  Amen. 

- Corinne Kologe