Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (excerpts from it):
1There’s a season for everything
and a time for every matter under the heavens:
2 a time for giving birth and a time for dying,
a time for planting and a time for uprooting what was planted…
4 a time for crying and a time for laughing,
a time for mourning and a time for dancing.
For the music fans out there, you may remember a song released in the 60s called “Turn, Turn, Turn.” Reading the verses from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 may remind you of that song, and with good reason–the lyrics from Turn, Turn, Turn are taken directly from the King James version of Ecclesisastes!
The reason these verses probably caught the eye of the songwriter is because they capture so nicely what life can be like sometimes. One biblical commentary on these verses says it well (I’ll summarize it)–We live in a world of changes. The events of time and the conditions of life are vastly different from one another, yet they’re here today and gone tomorrow, here one moment and gone the next. We’re continually passing and repassing between them, just like the revolutions of every day and every year. We must take things as they come.
I feel like over the past few months, our church family has experienced almost every line in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. We’ve seen a whole bunch of babies born and meal trains start! We’ve heard of people being healed and blessed, and of people hearing good reports from doctors. But we’ve also experienced loved ones fall ill and family members pass away. We’ve fasted and prayed for friends and family who are struggling with sickness and loss.
During this season, there seems like there is so much to celebrate, but so much to grieve as well. Like the commentary above says, we live in a world of changes, where situations in life can be here today and gone tomorrow.
More than ever, I think it’s important that we’re able to take things as they come. When we hear of good reports from doctors, or of healing, or the birth of little ones, we celebrate! We celebrate that God is the healer and blesses us with new life. In the same way, when we hear about sickness, or worrying reports from doctors, we turn to God in prayer and fasting. We contend for our friends and family and ask God for healing and restoration. And when we hear of loved ones going to be with the Father, we grieve and we mourn. We face the loss as best we can, still hoping and knowing that death never has the final word–God does.
It can be so challenging to deal with all these changes and emotions, especially when they come so quickly. But as a church family, we carry these burdens together. When we celebrate, we celebrate together, and when we mourn, we mourn together. Carrying each other’s burdens can help make those burdens lighter, so let’s continue to stand with one another, even as the seasons change.