A Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

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a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

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a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

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a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

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a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

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a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

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a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

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a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Most everyone from my generation knows this to have been quoted in the movie Footloose.  I noticed recently that a local theater group was doing a production of this movie.  Then this past week Chloe and I were walking hand in hand out of a store when she commented on someone’s behavior and how there was a time and a place for certain things.  This statement is so true, and kind of parallels my motto about doing, having, saying, eating, etc., things in moderation.

In life I often find myself struggling for a “happy medium”.  To me, this famous quote (Bible Verse) speaks to that.  It speaks to having a time for something and then a time for its polar opposite, some being more harsh than others.  “There is a time to be born and a time to die.”  In fact, we are born dying.  It is amazing to me what a bittersweet combination that is.  “There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh.”  What is most important is to find the right times and the right balance.

My hope for my life and those around me is to find that “happy medium”.  To find “a time to be silent” as well as “a time to speak”.  Our society as whole would be happier and healthier, emotionally and physically, if we all respected this mantra of “There is a time for Everything”.  I see all to often people who chose the wrong times and ways of going about things, to the detriment of their character and at someone else’s expense.  There is in fact “a time for Everything”, we just have to find the right one.