Everything Has Its Time

1¶To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:

2A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;

3A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;

4A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;

5A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;

6A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;

7A time to tear,
And a time to sew; A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;

8A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.

The God-Given Task

9¶What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?

10I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.

11He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

12¶I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives,

13and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

14I know that whatever God does,
It shall be forever.
Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before Him.

15That which is has already been,
And what is to be has already been;
And God requires an account of what is past.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

I read this morning while sitting in Spokane, Washington, drinking my coffee. The air is cool, and there is a constant breeze that never seems to let go. I hear a faint echo of what sounds like a train horn.

The terrain here is similar but different than home in Kelowna, BC. The sky seems much larger, and definitely more blue.

I’m here for work—to teach and be taught, to gain experience and to provide one. I sit here drinking my coffee and ponder: Isn’t this exactly what we should be doing?

As per the scripture above, there is a time for everything under the sun. As I read all these highlighted things, every one of them contains emotion. Each one is good for our souls. Each one brings us joy…if we allow it.

And not one of these comes from consuming media. This is why I’m more convinced that the media we consume is just a cheap imitation of the real thing. We’re to create experiences, not watch them on a screen. We must feel hardship, disappointment, joy, love, peace, etc., not a fabricated version while sitting in our homes.

I get it. The very thing I’m saying can be scary to some because we’ve allowed ourselves to be programmed so that all our experiences can be safely made within four walls and under our roof.

The enemy is clever. Whatever God creates, he imitates. As image bearers of God, we’re not to be consumers; we’re to be creators. We are creators of our own experiences, futures, and lives while ensuring that whatever it looks like, He is the preeminence of it. Knowing that whatever you create is, in fact, from Him, that He gives and takes away.

Our lives are not our own. They belong to Him, and He wants us to enjoy His gift of life for us, and the best way to do that is in accordance with His will.

Its impossible to avoid media these days. One thing I have taken to heart that I heart was to create before you consume. That’s a part of my morning writings I’ve been doing. Every morning, I read…usually from the word of God, and after I ponder on what was said, I create. I write out what’s coming to me and put it out to whomever God decides to share it with. To me its simply an exercise of creating in faith that God uses us in ways we just don’t understand, so we just keep creating.