Everything is Beautiful in it's Time
"Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God." Ecc. 3:11-13
We may not see it this way, but God has made everything beautiful for its own time. In this world we tend to see beauty with a narrow lens. The lovely, the happy, the new, shiny, healthy, that which looks good, smells good, makes us feel good...oh, and, by our definition of good. That's a small box. Truly, if we see with God's eyes there is way more beauty in the world than most people recognize.
Previously I wrote about the beauty and the pain that we experience in loss and in mourning. As I write, friends are waiting as their loved one hangs in the balance of life and death. It's heartbreaking. But in Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon wrote that God "has planted eternity in the human heart." That although we cannot see the entirety of his work from beginning to end, it is already within us. I can grasp that better when I'm not in the throes of a storm. Lord, as we grow in our understanding of you, help us to know and feel that eternity planted in our hearts. May we hold on to your promise tightly, when times, lives, futures, are uncertain.
It's the mountains and the valleys, that make life rich with texture and meaning. Our first pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 12 weeks. It was traumatic for me...the beginning of anxiety attacks that continue to plague me. I was amazed at how many people wrote or spoke to me, who had endured the same loss. Some were more traumatic than my own experience. Those were the people who I knew I could believe, who weren't serving me platitudes, but who spoke from their own painful experience and healing. Over time, again and again I have known someone who has suffered the same loss. I see it as a calling and even a duty, to be there for those sweet friends, because I know what it means to have someone near who knows my hurt. Everyone has highs and lows, but it's the way God weaves our lives together, connects us through our experiences, and uses us to love each other with His love, that deepens our relationships. Our eternal relationships. Those moments tether us to that eternity that He has planted in our hearts.
Solomon concludes that because we do not know God's plan, the best we can do is to enjoy our lives and the fruits of our labor, as the gift from God that they are. We may not "enjoy" all types of beauty in the world, but we can appreciate it and create it by touching the lives of others when we have the opportunity. If you are in a valley, or if you see someone in a valley, reach out and take the hand of another human. Share the moment of time that one of you is in, together. In so doing, you become part of one another's eternity. That is where the beauty lies. What an amazing gift from God.
We may not see it this way, but God has made everything beautiful for its own time. In this world we tend to see beauty with a narrow lens. The lovely, the happy, the new, shiny, healthy, that which looks good, smells good, makes us feel good...oh, and, by our definition of good. That's a small box. Truly, if we see with God's eyes there is way more beauty in the world than most people recognize.
Previously I wrote about the beauty and the pain that we experience in loss and in mourning. As I write, friends are waiting as their loved one hangs in the balance of life and death. It's heartbreaking. But in Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon wrote that God "has planted eternity in the human heart." That although we cannot see the entirety of his work from beginning to end, it is already within us. I can grasp that better when I'm not in the throes of a storm. Lord, as we grow in our understanding of you, help us to know and feel that eternity planted in our hearts. May we hold on to your promise tightly, when times, lives, futures, are uncertain.
It's the mountains and the valleys, that make life rich with texture and meaning. Our first pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 12 weeks. It was traumatic for me...the beginning of anxiety attacks that continue to plague me. I was amazed at how many people wrote or spoke to me, who had endured the same loss. Some were more traumatic than my own experience. Those were the people who I knew I could believe, who weren't serving me platitudes, but who spoke from their own painful experience and healing. Over time, again and again I have known someone who has suffered the same loss. I see it as a calling and even a duty, to be there for those sweet friends, because I know what it means to have someone near who knows my hurt. Everyone has highs and lows, but it's the way God weaves our lives together, connects us through our experiences, and uses us to love each other with His love, that deepens our relationships. Our eternal relationships. Those moments tether us to that eternity that He has planted in our hearts.
Solomon concludes that because we do not know God's plan, the best we can do is to enjoy our lives and the fruits of our labor, as the gift from God that they are. We may not "enjoy" all types of beauty in the world, but we can appreciate it and create it by touching the lives of others when we have the opportunity. If you are in a valley, or if you see someone in a valley, reach out and take the hand of another human. Share the moment of time that one of you is in, together. In so doing, you become part of one another's eternity. That is where the beauty lies. What an amazing gift from God.
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