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God's Words For US
by Cecelia Lester
Time
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)
Throughout our lives, we have waged a contest between time and ourselves. We know there are 24 hours in a day, usually 31 days in a month—except April, June, September, and November, each of these have 30; and that renegade we call February which has either 28 or 29.
Back in high school, I had a teacher who used the phrase ‘time—wasters’ to describe some of us students. We heard people say they had done something to “kill time.” Wasting something simply means we throw an object away or misuse it. Killing time seems to be wasting minutes and hours to a great degree. (My definition)
Time is a valuable commodity. While we cannot put our hands on it, we have it at our disposal. Ask a child under 13 how old he or she is we get an interesting response. If that child is between eight and nine, their answer is, ’eight and a half.’
My dad told me when I was a child that as we get older, time goes faster, or it seems to. From time to time, I think of him as he told me that.
How is this applicable to the Bible and my focus verse? Solomon, the wisest man in the world, tells us ‘there is a time for everything.” “Does he mean will have sad times along with the happy ones? Will we have times of hardship and times of ease? Yes, he does.
Certain times are longer and become seasons: rearing children, caring for an ill family member, and, yes, seasons of strife. God allows us to have these seasons as he molds us into the persons he desires us to be.
“a time to be born and a time to die”Ecclesiastes3:2 (NIV)
When a mother-to-be begins to have labor pains, she verbalizes the thought she has by saying, “It’s time.” The message to her husband/significant other tells that her child will be born very soon.
When an older person passes from this earth due to natural causes (after an illness) the family and loved ones realize, “it was his/her time.”
I remember hearing we have our emotions backward during times of birth and death. We rejoice at the beginning of a life and we mourn at the end of one’s life. This thought caught me by surprise many years ago. The person went on to explain—if the departed person knew Jesus, he or she will be with Him, a definite cause for joy.
However, when a child is born, that child comes into a world filled with sin and danger. We should be alert to the things of this earth and concerned for those who come up against them.
God is in control of when we enter this world, people love hearing about a new baby. He is also in command when a person departs this earth.
When a person experiences severe injury due to the inhumane treatment by another, God may choose to take that person home and heal him or her in heaven. Sometimes, a person contracts an illness and the severity of that illness is such that an earthly cure is not available. God sends an angel down to his or her bedside and escorts them into their heavenly home.
“a time to plant and a time to uproot” Ecclesiastes 3; 2b (NIV)
Springtime is planting season for most crops. The one exception I know of is winter wheat. One spring my husband and I were fishing at a friend’s pond in a rural county in the south-central part of our state. Across the road from the pond, a farmer was planting a field. Since I have always lived in a city, I found it interesting to watch.
Conversely, fall is the time to harvest those crops planted in the spring. I remember when I was in the fourth grade seeing up-close corn being combined and a field cleared of the stalks and the grain filling up a wagon.
In ministry, a new outreach effort is born to meet a need. At the other end of the spectrum, certain ministries close for whatever reason or reasons apparent to those who lead it. Certain uprooting takes place when the original purpose has not been met or a building outlives its usefulness. Certain expansions become reality when a family or a group feels the need to enlarge their vision.
Sometimes this short phrase could apply to forming or even ending a friendship. God has to be at both the beginning and the end of relationships. Even when we experience the uprooting of our lives, we have to look to the LORD for balance.
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Cecelia Lester has been serious about her writing for over two decades..
She composes Christian essays and posts them to her blog quietspirit-followingmyking.blogspot.com/
She has served in a faith-based organization, Grace In Action by writing two newsletters and searching for possible grants.
In July 2017, she published her first book, 'Times of Trouble Bring Rays of Joy.'
She and her husband of 54 years live in central Indiana. They have one grown son.
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