Sometimes I like to take a passage of Scripture and write it out in a way that makes more sense to me. Today, I was pondering Ecclesiastes 3. It is on my mind because I feel like I am in everyone of the “times” all at once. So, I thought I would share my journaling here.
Ecclesiastes 3
There is a time for everything, and everything on earth has its special season. (and sometimes everything happens all at the same time.)
2 There is a time to be born, and a time to die.
There is a time to plant, and a time to pull up plants.
3 There is a time to kill, and a time to heal.
There is a time to tear down, and a time to build up.
4 There is a time to cry, and a time to laugh. (And sometimes a time to laugh until you cry, or cry until you laugh.)
There is a time to be sad, and a time to dance. (Rejoice and celebrate)
5 There is a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather them. (A time to collect, and a time to throw away)
There is a time to hug, and a time not to hug. (Knowing the difference is so important.)
6 There is a time to look for something, and a time to stop looking for it.
There is a time to keep things, and a time to throw things away. (Don’t be a hoarder, but don’t be wasteful, either.)
7 There is a time to tear apart, and a time to sew together. (A good stitch takes time, but is worth doing right.)
There is a time to be silent, and a time to speak. (Ugh, such a thing to learn, it may take a lifetime.)
8 There is a time to love, and a time to hate. (Strong words)
There is a time for war, and a time for peace. (seems like there is always war, and yet also peace in Him)
9 Do people really gain anything from their work? (The work of man seems so futile.)10 I saw the hard work God has given people to do. (So much work to live.)11 God has given them a desire to know the future. (We always want to know what’s next, but could we really handling knowing?)He does everything just right and on time, but people can never completely understand what he is doing. 12 So I realize that the best thing for them is to rejoice and enjoy themselves as long as they live. 13 God wants all people to eat and drink and be blessed in their work, which are gifts from God. 14 I know that everything God does will continue forever. People cannot add anything to what God has done, and they cannot take anything away from it. God does it this way to make people revere him.
15 What happens now has happened in the past,
and what will happen in the future has happened before.
God makes the same things happen again and again.(and again and again)
16 I also saw this here on earth:
Where there should have been justice, there was evil;
where there should have been right, there was wrong.
17 I said to myself,
God has planned a time for everything and every action,
so He will judge both good people and bad.
18 I decided that God leaves it the way it is to test people and to show them they are just like animals. 19 The same thing happens to animals and to people; they both have the same breath, so they both die. People are no better off than the animals, because everything is useless. 20 Both end up the same way; both came from dust and both will go back to dust. 21 Who can be sure that the human spirit goes up to God and that the spirit of an animal goes down into the ground? 22 So I saw that the best thing people can do is to enjoy their work, because that is all they have. No one can help another person see what will happen in the future.
Today, I can relate to Solomon’s pondering. War, planting, living, dying, birth, death, build, tear down, gather, scatter, etc. etc.
May God have mercy on us all.
Shalom
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