A Time for Everything

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 throw 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 throw 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.

                                                                                    ~ Ecclesiates 3

Looking out the window at the first signs of fall, I am reminded that each season is beautiful in its own way.  Winter brings the beauty of the magically transformed world into one purified in white (at least until traffic and pollution turn it to a grayish-black "mush" along the roadways.)  Spring shows the many colors of newly formed leaves in several shades of green just "popping" out of their buds and the few new spring flowers bursting through the ground to meet the sunshine each day.  Summer has the deeper shades of green when the trees loan us their shade to keep the sun's heat at bay during the day, while fall shows us the many splendid colors of God's artist's palette.  

Life is much like the seasons:  the beauty of a newborn child in all of their soft purity and newness of life; the endless energy and care-free life of a child at play; the  much busier "grown-up version" of adult life; and the frail bodies and wise minds of those "more seasoned in life" as they near their journey's end here on earth.  Each season of life has it's own beauty in our eyes.  We must approach life as we do the seasons each year - enjoying each as it lasts and looking for its beauty as we pass through them, for this is what God has created for us to enjoy.  May we all find the beauty in our lives as we travel this earthly road towards heaven's gate someday in the future.

Prayer

Dear Lord, 

As we travel along life's road - however long or short our path here - may we always take the time to enjoy the beauty of the lives we are living here as we come closer to Your kingdom at the end of our path.  Amen.