There is a Time

For everything there is a time and a season.
That's what I love about Ecclesiasties. It puts everything in it's place. These last couple of weeks have been a mix of so many "times and seasons" that I felt like I was on the verge of a mental breakdown for a while.....don't worry, I'm fine now. :-)
Last week, amidst the craziness of 4-H summer, we had a family friend die, and a wedding all in the same weekend. The mix of the two got me thinking quite a bit.
When a human mind is rushed with all these mixed emotions, suddenly life becomes so much shorter.
We live, we eat, we breath....
We grow up, we get a job, we get married...
We have families, we have losses, we have gains...
But one day we will die.
We will leave behind us loved ones, kisses not given, tears not wiped, regrets to fill an ocean, and yet we will be able to do nothing, change nothing because we will be dead and there's no going back.
It's when I think about these things that life becomes so fragile to me. So often I find myself caught up in my present worries and aurguments that I forget how fragile this life truly is. In my impatience, I so easily try to rush life. Then I look back and wish I had savored that moment.

I think about all the people losing their homes in Colorado right now. I think about how often I grudgingly clean and do chores in my home. If I were one of those people who had lost my home, I doubt that I would be thinking about how hard it was to clean the house. I bet I would be thinking about how I wish I had enjoyed my time there instead.
But, why does it take tragedy to make me think?
Ecclesiastes seems to have the answer to that too. :-) In chapter 7, verse 3 it says, "Sorrow is better than laghter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better." Maybe that's it. Maybe that is why God allows sorrow to be mixed with our joys. Because it gets us to think. It makes us appreciate the joys more.
Mourning over the death of a man married to his wife for 44 years, made the joyous wedding of some dear friends all the richer. Sorrow makes you cherish the joy more. One woman lost her husband, one girl married the man of her dreams. And I stand on the outside and watch. I learn about God's faithfulness, and I learn to love what I have been given.

There is a time for everything, we just need to learn to accept the current time.