In and out. Up and down. Life is a journey filled with successes and failures, wins and losses. A pastor once said, “In weather, there are four seasons. But in your life, there are dozens of different seasons. And every season of life includes both good and bad times.”
Like many of you, I am ready for this season to be over. I am ready to return to a time when I was mask free, could travel unrestricted, and where friends abound. I’m ready for my old rhythm of life to return, one that gave me comfort and security. I’m ready to step beyond the upside down, and find a world unconsumed by the Mind Flayer, the Shadow Monster, or as we know it Covid-19.
The passage I wanted to share today is Ecclesiastes 3 with its poetic litany of the ups and downs of life. Words written more than two thousand years ago, yet they encompass the full range of contemporary human emotion and experience, that we will experience in our life, some in the past few months.
Here now these words.
There’s a season for everything
and a time for every matter under the heavens:
a time for giving birth and a time for dying,
a time for planting and a time for uprooting what was planted,
a time for killing and a time for healing,
a time for tearing down and a time for building up,
a time for crying and a time for laughing,
a time for mourning and a time for dancing,
a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,
a time for embracing and a time for avoiding embraces,
a time for searching and a time for losing,
a time for keeping and a time for throwing away,
a time for tearing and a time for repairing,
a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking,
a time for loving and a time for hating,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Seasons, Change, and Purpose. Life is full of seasons, and they change from one to another each with their own purpose and importance. Anthony Bourdain has this fantastic quote, “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.
Although we may not be traveling much these days, the life we live is in a sense a journey, the ultimate travel experience as we traverse its mountain top highs, and cavernous valleys below. With each change, with each season we leave behind some thing, as we move toward something new. It’s not always pretty or comfortable, but through it all, God’s presence is always there. May we claim that presence, as we travel boldly into this season, learning more about ourselves and who God is calling us to be in this time and in this place.
Youth of Geist Christian Church 