January 1 - Sarah Rhodes
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
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.
What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.
When we read poetry we tend to pause where we would if we were talking or where it feels natural, but poetry is meant to be read with pauses only at the punctuation. Try reading it again, but rather than pausing before the “and,” read each line through and also pause at the commas at the end of the line.
I think this is important, not just for flow, but for the meaning of the scripture. There is not a separation between the “time to plant” and the “time to uproot,” they are really connected. If you never uproot, you don’t have the room to plant. There is no separation between the “time to weep” and the “time to laugh.” It is our times of sadness that make the times of joy so sweet, and it is our blessings of joy that make the loss of those we love so painful. To have the joy of caring truly is to have the pain of loss and change - they are intertwined together.
In addition to this beautiful picture of life it paints, these scriptures are offering practical wisdom. There is “a time to be silent and time to speak” and “a time to search and a time to give up.” It is not our life’s goal to speak and convince everyone of our views or to be silent always to allow others to speak. A lifetime goal, instead, I think this scripture suggests, should be understanding when it is time for silence and when it is time for speaking. We need wisdom for knowing what it is the time for for each of the couplets.
As you read through, which times of life are you in right now, which lines stand out to you? For whatever time you are in, how is that connected with the inverse in the line? If you are in a time of mending, how is that connected with tearing? Is there peace in that or uncertainty? Maybe both? Reflect back on the last year, what times were you in and what times are you hoping for in the new year?
Verse 9 asks what we gain from all this toil, and verse 13 answers, “That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.”
Auld Lang Syne reminds me of the scripture. Auld Lang Syne just means for old time’s sake. As we clumsily step into the new year with our faces to the past and backs to the future, we consider the times of youth and times of weariness in the past years and we take the gift of God as “we take a right good-will draught for auld lang syne”.
May God give us peace and awe when we consider the lives we live. May God give us courage to not run away from the times for destruction and weeping and give us joy for our times of building and laughing. May we grow in wisdom to know when to act and when to be still. May we eat and drink and find satisfaction in our toil. Amen.