Seasons in the Sun

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the workthat God maketh from the beginning to the end.
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

Our Pastor spoke on this section of Ecclesiastes in Sunday School this week. He emphasized that that so often, people are far too RIGID. Their rigidity makes change and movement from season to season more difficult than, perhaps, it needs to be.

God wants us to enjoy every season and to find a way to do good work at whatever stage of life we are in.

I wish that the visits with our “cottage cousins” could even be called seasons, instead of just the few short hours we spend together each year. I so enjoy their company…sunsets, beers around the bonfire, singing songs from "Joseph and The Technicolor Dream Coat."

I'm thinking of them today as they scatter back across the country to the south and to Hawaii.