To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck 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; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to gain, 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 of war, and a time of peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1–8
For centuries man has been developing instruments with which to measure time, progressing from sundials to devices that synchronize with a common standard accurate to within a fraction of a second. For all we do in life, there is an appropriate time (Ecclesiastes 3:1–8)—a time for action (Acts 8:29) and a time for pause (Acts 18:11), a time to hurry (Acts 22:16) and a time to wait (Acts 1:4), a time to put things off (Exodus 3:5) and a time to put things on (Ephesians 6:15), a time to hold on and a time to let go (1 Thessalonians 5:22). All our lives we have been bound by time, but there is coming a time (if we may call it “time”) in which we will be freed from this constraint. As long as we live in this world of constant ebb and flow, we will do well to appreciate the beauty that God has bestowed upon every season.
There is beauty in every season of the year (Genesis 8:22). In the spring we see everything bursting to life with blossoms of beautiful pastel shades and leaves shooting forth, and we smell the fragrances that only accompany this season. Summer brings long days and radiant warmth, and we gather in all manner of the earth’s produce. In the fall we watch the leaves turn from green to brilliant reds and yellows, and we gather the last of the harvest before winter sets in. In winter the earth is refreshed with frequent rain and snow which falls in crystals of beautiful composition, every one unique.
Each individual day has its various phases, each with its own beauty. When I watch the sun rise I wonder what could be more beautiful, but then I see it set and observe that this time of day has a splendor of its own. I love the early morning hours before the house comes to life, but there is also beauty in the time when the children are all running amok.
There is even a beauty in every season of life. In 1959, the Browns recorded a song in which the bells of a little town hidden deep in a valley ring out when little Jimmy Brown is born. The same bells in the same steeple ring out again when he marries and once more when he dies. Although you can sense the difference in the tone of the bells and of the congregants as they gather for these different occasions, there is a certain beauty in every one. When a baby is born, joy follows pain (John 16:21), and when that spirit plums its flight to regions on high (Ecclesiastes 12:7), is there not beauty in this? Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (John 12:24). Paul says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom (1 Corinthians 15:53–54). Although death is not welcomed by the living, it too is beautiful in its time (Revelation 14:13). There is beauty in life’s celebrations, but there is also beauty in the sad moments. In a story called “The Magic Thread,” a little boy is given the ability to speed up unpleasant parts of his life by pulling a golden thread from a silver ball. Whenever he has to wait for something to come or to pass, he pulls the thread, and before he knows it, his life is over and he remembers nothing. Instead of longing for days still to come or mourning the days that are over and gone (Ecclesiastes 7:10), let’s look for the beauty in the day God has made.
Whatever season you may be going through right now, God has made it beautiful in some way; enjoy it and realize that this world isn’t our home anyway.