Timely beauty Week 28, 2017

I hadn’t understood that truth at a time, in fact the connection between the two bits of scripture were initially lost on me, but they are a great comfort. It is stark reality.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

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

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

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

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

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

What gain has the worker from his toil?   I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end Eccl 3:1-11(ESV).

There is a time for everything, and everything is beautiful in its right time. Now when anything happens outside of its time, like rain during the dry season, it is not beautiful. Tears at the death of a loved one are beautiful. Screams of joy at the birth of a long awaited baby are equally beautiful. What matters is the timeliness. It is also the good Lord that determines seasons and times, ours is to prepare for those times and seasons and make good use of them. For each season has a purpose. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me ... unto the uttermost part of the earth Act 1:7, 8(ISV).

How must we respond to changing seasons and times? We must press on with the work of the kingdom no matter how the season appears in our understanding. Just as you do not understand the way of the spirit in the womb of a pregnant mother, so also you do not know what God is doing in everything he makes Eccl 11:5 (ISV). No matter whether we interpret it as favourable or unfavourable, we must joyfully work. Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season 2Tim 4:2(ESV). But actually no season is unfavourable when it comes in its God-sent time; each season is beautiful, and a season for focused, though differing, labour. Sow your seed in the morning, and don't stop working until evening, since you don't know which of your endeavors will do well Eccl 11:6(ISV)