He Makes Everything Beautiful

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace…

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

-Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

Hello Friends! I’m sorry it’s been a while since my last blog post.  My husband and I had the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas for a friend’s wedding in mid-May, and upon our return, life hit us head on like a bug on a windshield.  The week following our return from Las Vegas, my husband’s grandmother took a turn for the worse and went home to be with Jesus.  Life was flipped upside down on us for a few weeks.  In one week we walked through the loss of our beloved Grandma Ruth, and we attended another funeral in addition to hers as well as a wedding, a graduation, and hosted a graduation party at our house for my little sister.  The following week didn’t get any easier.  Both of my little ones caught colds and I went through a surgery.  My head is still spinning from the emotional roller coaster ride we have been on, but one thing is for sure, there is a lot to learn in times like this. 

I have always loved this passage from Ecclesiastes.  We know that there are seasons in life, and God makes each one beautiful in its own time.  What I failed to remember is that we can walk through nearly all of these seasons in a week’s time.  Sometimes life just seems to hit us all at once and we find ourselves on a ride that won’t stop and won’t let up.  We keep trying to tap out but the punches just keep coming.  Life is just flat out hard sometimes, right?  But there is a secret to finding joy in the midst of the chaos, and I believe the secret is found in verse 11 above.  God has made everything beautiful in its time, so the secret to a joyful life is learning to see God’s beauty in it all.

 

The death of my husband’s grandmother was not an easy thing to walk through, especially as we watched her suffer during her last hours of life.  Yet, there was beauty to be found in the midst of our pain and heart ache.  For instance, watching Grandpa Carl, Grandma’s husband of 62 years, hold her hand and tell her that it was okay for her to go home and be with Jesus and her parents was a beautiful thing.  The look of passion and sincere love in his eyes after 62 years of marriage displayed an even deeper beauty than the look of love in our friend’s eyes as he watched his bride walk down the aisle toward him just a week prior.  Having the opportunity to be with Grandma during her last moments of life and to pray with her and encourage her was another beautiful moment.  After Grandma passed we huddled together as a family and had many moments where we were crying one second, and laughing the next.  Even in the worst of times, when we open our eyes and lift them to God, we will find Him, and when we find Him we will find beauty. 

So today, whatever season you are walking through, or if life is coming at you like a race car going the wrong direction down a one way street, it is my prayer that you will see God’s beauty in it all.  May your eyes be opened to the beauty in each moment, and may you see God in fresh new ways each step of the way. 

Heavenly Father, today we just pause and thank you that you make all things beautiful in their time.  Please help us to see you in whatever we are walking through today, Lord.  Whether we are mourning or dancing, laughing or weeping, or all of the above, would you open our eyes to the beauty you have set before us.  We love you, Lord.  Please bless this day, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.