Ecclesiastes

A Time For Everything

Amanda Graham Joyful Heart, Spiritual , , , , Leave a comment

The devotion from Bella’s Sweet Dreams Princess Bible that I read to her the other night was from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.  The simplicity and realness of the words brought me to tears.

There is a right time for everything.  Everything on earth has its special season.

There is a time to be born and a time to die.

There is a time to plant and a time pull up plants.

There is a time to kill and a time to heal. (This is where my tears began.)

There is a time to destroy and a time to build.

There is a time to cry and a time to laugh.

There is a time to be sad and time to dance.

There is a time to throw away stones and a time to gather them.

There is a time to hug and a time not to hug.

There is a time to look for something and time to stop looking for it.

There is a time to keep things and a time to throw things away.

There is a time to tear apart and time to sew together.

There is a time to be silent and a time to speak.

There is a time to love and a time to hate.

God knows it is time, time for me to reap in laughter what has been sown in tears, and to live the abundant life.

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Spring

Amanda Graham Joyful Heart, Spiritual , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Lord keeps speaking to me about Spring.  I say speaking to me, and what I mean by that is that I keep feeling this internal energy and liveliness surrounding the thoughts of Spring.  I woke up one morning to a quiet Spring rain, and I can’t really explain why, but it gave me a sweet joy.  It just felt like exactly what I needed.  The overcast, grey sky; the puddles of water gathering in all the low places in the ground; it all just seemed to bring me peace.  And then a few days later while we were eating breakfast, Judah looked out the window and exclaimed, “Mommy, our doves our back!”  Judah has grown a fondness of the doves that come and make their nests around our home.  We have always had a family of doves that make their home close to ours, and it touches my heart that even our children take note of their presence among us…I believe they are here with us for a reason.  So as Judah proclaimed the return of the  doves I heard “The winter is past [...] Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land” ~Song of Solomon 2:11-12.  And there’s a song by Jessie Rogers Goodman, Seasons, that keeps playing in my heart.  It says:

Summer skies, heaven’s opened wide, You make Your face to shine through the morning light

Autumn rain is crying out Your name, and though the colors change, Lord you will remain

Winter snow, bringing you so close, I know you’ll be here through the end

Lover’s spring, life to all You bring, and I can hear you sing the song of You and me  

Seasons by Jessie Goodman

Such a beautiful song, and it has brought such a lovely peace to my soul.  Everything in creation, even creation itself, goes through seasons of change — it’s the way of life — and through every season God remains faithful.  He’s the same; he never changes.  He is holy and righteous, and good, and true, and we can always rely on him.  In the good times and the bad, He is here.  He has always been, and He will always be.  But the season of Spring has come.  Winter is over, and the Lord is near.  His love is in the air, so close, you can breathe it in.  Read Ecclesiastes 3.