For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter 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 tear, 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 to war, and a time for peace.
-Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
This is the time of year that change seems everywhere. The beginning of a new school year; church activities begin anew; meetings which were idled during the summer are held again. The warmth of summer lingers, and yet there is a chill to the breeze, even in sunshine.
Earlier this month, there seemed to be a swirl of news, both personal and public and both good and bad, that all seemed to be happening at once. I finished editing my book, and sent it to a friend to critique (three years' work, moving forward); A friend of a friend suffered a miscarriage; a coworker's daughter, diagnosed with cancer two years ago, went to the doctor and found her scans were clear; war/not war/diplomatic confusion regarding Syria; my mother had surgery (she's doing well, for those of you who wonder); CJ and I continue to wait for the safe arrival of Nephew #3; Miley Cyrus and the seemingly never-ending downward scraping of the barrel that is our popular culture; and the expected, but still sad death of an old friend from Ohio - she really was old, in human years - 105.
Change is coming.
We don't always know, or are prepared for it, when it does come. Sometimes it is welcome and sometimes it is resented with such ferocity, more damage is done than if the person (or group, etc.) had simply moved with it, as with a tide. This is not to say that all change is good. But overall, as human beings living in a fallen world, we must accept that change will happen.
"A window down the street flew open.
'We've surrendered!"
The procession in the street stopped short. Each told his neighbor what we had all heard for ourselves. A boy of maybe fifteen turned to us with tears rolling down his cheeks. 'I would have fought! I wouldn't ever have given up!' Father stooped down to pick up a small bruised petal from the brick pavement; tenderly he inserted it in his buttonhole.
'That is good, my son,' he told the youngster. 'For Holland's battle has just begun.'"
-The Hiding Place, page 64
May the changes of this world neither overwhelm you nor slip by you unnoticed.
