All in God’s Time

The past belongs to His mercy, the future to His providence, and the present to His love – Let us begin! – Mother Teresa

Eccl 3:1-11
There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every thing under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. 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 be far from embraces. A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

What advantage has the worker from his toil? I have considered the task that God has appointed for the sons of men to be busied about. He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without man's ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

What is it that is so attractive about the well-known verses from the Book of Ecclesiastes which we hear today? Is it the rhythm that sways back and forth (A time . . ., a time)? Is it the stark contrasts that mark each verse (born/die, weep/laugh, love/hate)? Perhaps it is a combination of all the above.

As much as these characteristics may unite to attract our attention, the “commentary” provided in the text defines most of all the attraction of these haunting verses: “There is an appointed time for everything. . . . [God] has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts.” The breadth of human experience chronicled by Ecclesiastes exhausts us until we relax into the truth that no part of human experience escapes God’s view, God’s presence.

Without that truth, the times of daily life feed a frenzy that continually looks to “the next thing” because the present is too difficult to bear, or seems empty. On we run to the next thing, in the hope of finding relief, something better, more satisfying, happier. But if everything mysteriously bears the stamp of God’s design and purpose, then no time is outside of his loving Providence , no event outside his loving Presence. Relaxing into that truth, then we know that the “rush” inside our hearts to “move on,” comes not from the worthlessness of passing moments. Rather, “God has put the timeless into their hearts.”

A line from the poet William Blake comes to mind: “The wind is old and still at play, but I must hurry upon my way, for I am running to Paradise .”

It’s all God’s – both time and eternity. What a relief!