Speaking of time, I thought it was time that I wrote the devotional. It’s been awhile since I asked Chris if I could write one to all of you. It is a blessing to feel connected to you through this message and through God’s Word. This is a very different season where relationships take on a whole new dynamic, but please know that our prayers and love are with you during this time.
There is that word again. Time. I’ve been thinking a lot about time. Silas turned twelve on Sunday, and I am amazed how fast those twelves years flew by.
Every year, Chris and I write in a journal for Silas. We write about the new things Silas is doing, memories we made during the year, our hope and prayer for him as he grows…and we write in this journal year after year. This year, I was flipping through the pages and thought about how those pages represent twelve years of his life. I could flip through them so quickly, the pages just shuffling by…and it reminded me of how life is. Quickly shuffling by.
The funny thing is that some of those memories in the pages of Silas’ journal did not feel quick.
Changing diapers seemed like it would last forever.
Sleeping through the night was a distant memory.
Carrying Silas on my hip seemed never ending.
The colic years had no end in sight.
Even the 9 month pregnancy felt like 9 years!
Do you know what my wise mom told me when I was in the midst of these hard days?
The days are long, but the years go by fast.
It sure didn’t feel like it then! But as I now look at Silas’s journal - a journal representing twelve years - and my mom’s words echo in my ears. Indeed, the days were long but the years went by fast.
The pages in Silas’s journal hold a milestone…the day he took his first steps or said his first words. The pages contain great joy…the day he prayed the salvation prayer! The pages record family memories…the time we spent in Vietnam. The pages speak of hardship…the day Silas broke his first bone. The pages tell of hope…how much Jesus and his mommy and daddy love him.
What would your journal say?
Clearly, it wouldn’t have the same experiences or the same memories. But I bet all of our journals would tell about times that were good and bad. The joy and the pain. The hope and the sorrow. No matter who we are, our “pages” will have some of the best times and some of the worst times.
Even King Solomon, the richest and wisest king to ever exist, had his ups and downs. Many Biblical commentaries believe he is the author of these words in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
I would add: There is a time to change diapers and a time to potty train. Okay, so maybe that wouldn’t work. But the message here is that there an ebb and flow of time…a flow of good and bad, happy and sad, peace and turbulence, planting and harvesting. There is time for everything.
I find the verse “a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing” very fitting during our current status of social distancing. And I bet if you slowly read through these verses that you would find a lot that is fitting for your personal life. Times that you mourned but also times that made you want to dance. Times of financial hardship and then a season of stability. Times of division, maybe in the church or in your family, and then a time of peace and unity. Times of celebrating births and times of grieving a death.
We all have these times, these seasons in our lives. The ups and the downs. The hard part is when we our journal page consists of the downs. The trials and hardships. The days that feel long and never-ending.
Maybe you feel that way right now. Maybe you are going through a season of grief. A time of pain. Or maybe you just don’t see how we are going to get through the Coronavirus.
King Solomon continued and says this in Ecclesiastes 3:11:
He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Wow. This tells us that every time and every season can be beautiful. Even the bad, the ugly, the worst of the worst. God can make it all beautiful.
Do you know what I would give to go back and hold baby Silas again? I don’t think as much about the diapers or the crying…I think about how I will never have my baby boy again. I have asked myself thousands of times, why did I not enjoy those years more? Why was I so focused on the hardship that I didn’t see the blessing in it????
That time was hard. But it was also very beautiful.
Maybe we need to remind ourselves that right now, and ask, Are we so focused on the hardship of this season that we aren’t seeing the blessings? Are we not enjoying these days given to us?
Because someday we will look back in twelve years and these “pages” will have shuffled by. We will realize that even though the days were long, the years went by fast. Seasons might be hard, this season might even be the hardest year some of us have ever experienced…but God can make it beautiful.
Go now and “write” your journal. Your pages might fill up with joy mingled with tears. But because of Christ, your pages will always be beautiful.
~ Christa
