One Person
What time is it?
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 throw 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 throw 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. What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by. - Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
To think that everything can be good all the time is fooling ourselves.
The wisdom in Ecclesiastes is the wisdom of humanity. It is what we all learn and what we all think, especially when the question is asked, what's this life all about?
We understand the seasons and their purpose, giving us a time for new life and a time for dying off, for harvesting and planting again. These things make sense. But when it comes to love and hate, peace and war, calm and strife, we are not so accommodating.
Why is that? Why can't we accept that life goes through cycles out of our control?
Sometimes we get hit with a double or triple whammy, like now, with the effects of a pandemic, economic depression, and now unrest and violence. Maybe it is just time for these things.
We may not be able to understand why, nor will we be accepting of the situation, but we shouldn't be surprised. This is how the world is, and though God made it, He does not bring these things about. We do.
If we are to learn anything from recent events, I believe it should be this. We may think we don't have much of an impact on the world, but we do.
One person released a deadly virus that killed so many and shut down the world economy.
One person choked a man to death without being stopped.
One person can do a lot to bring about harm.
Maybe one person can also do a lot to bring about good. We should all seek to be that one person.
More to come...