Tolerating or Enjoying?

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to seek, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to tear, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate;

A time for war, and a time for peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

We all go through various seasons of life. The ebb and flow of our days. In that list here in Ecclesiastes, of which there is a time for everything, not everything is always pleasant. We don’t like death, mourning, war, etc.

But do we only tolerate the seasons of life as they come to us? Or do we really enjoy them? As I reflect back over 52 years, I can see those times that I didn’t enjoy as well as others. Yet God has taken me through and seen me through a lot of different things. And I haven’t seen or have experienced everything that you have either.

This summer our youngest graduated high school. My wife has gone back to work part time after homeschooling for 25 years. We are both starting to consider how to best help aging parents. We are still trying to navigate the waters of parenting adult children. We have over the last couple of years seen the beginning and the end of lives.

And much of that is just personal everyday life stuff. As we consider the world and the culture in which we live there are seasons there as well. This is not the world in which I grew up. Some of that is good and much of that is bad.

As the times they are a changing, do we cling to the Rock in which we find hope and strength and peace? Do we cling to Christ? Is He that solid rock upon which we stand?

I hope so. Because all other ground is sinking sand. Stand upon the Rock. Cling to Christ. And stop just tolerating the next season in your life but look for ways you can enjoy it.