A Time for Every Thing

Many Faces of Wisdom Wisdom in the Gospels Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5)    The Boy, Jesus Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 New International Version  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. For Reflection We read in Genesis that God created everything and declared it good. But as humans, how do we know the realities of the Creation? Is everything that we perceive meaningless as the writer of Ecclesiastes contends? We, humans, tend to see everything as a comparative value, either good or bad. But is that how God understands the Creation? Do we only know a thing by its opposite, cold/hot, love/hate, etc.? Is wisdom built from explorations into "this or that," or is it formed by integrating "this and that?" Perhaps God does not measure events in the creation with a sliding scale of opposites. Was the crucifixion of Jesus a good thing or a bad thing? Can we perceive the events in the evolving Creation as God sees?  Perhaps the writer of Ecclesiastes wants his readers to understand that from human perception, there is no meaning of anything until we see beyond the immediate into the eternal.  While our suffering in the pandemic (a human condition) is real, so is the healing touch of caregivers, the illumination of social, economic, and political issues that can now be addressed, and a renewed emphasis on the collective will to aspire toward righteousness. Pray Pray so that you may live in the light of God.  Pray so that the dichotomy of opposites does not blind you from seeing the eternal goodness and grace of God.