Devotional Messages

DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: 

 “For everything there is a season, and 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 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 cast 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 cast away;
a time to rend, 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.”

Sunday will be Micah’s 30th birthday.  Hard to wrap my head around the fact that my youngest is turning 30!  That, along with semi-retiring last summer has me thinking about TIME.  Sometimes it seems time is a curse - it passes too quickly and there is never enough of it. But in reality, time is a blessing: the moments we get to spend with each other, the memories we make, the quiet times of reflection, the wild and exuberant times of joy.  Even the times of transition, pain, struggle - we can find gifts in all of these times, if we are open and looking. And through all these times, we make choices. Sometimes easy choices, sometimes hard choices, and sometimes choices that seem to be no choice at all.

This well-known scripture can be seen as a meditation on the rhythms of life. Some of these are things we can control, and some of these are things we cannot. But our response to these things?  That we can control.  As they say, time marches on. Life goes on. And in it all, there is God.

We are into the liturgical season of Lent, which is a time for reflection and preparation.  In setting aside this time, we make time a gift.  It takes intention to recognize this gift, and honor it by using it as intended. To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. 

Prayer: O God, may we see the blessings of time that you have granted us. We know that time passes - sometimes faster than we would like. But we know also that you are in all of these experiences. May we feel your presence, your joy, your strength, your peace, your passion, in all of these moments.   AMEN.

In Christian Love,

Karen Cliffe
(Pastor Rebecca on Sabbatical)