Seasons

A Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3 (NIV)

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

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,

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.


I appreciate how the writer of this passage reminds me that there is a time for everything and that all the seasons in my life are ordained by God. I am often frustrated by the season in which I live. Today, in this “time for war,” I mourn more than I dance and I cry more than I laugh. The fifteen month deployment for which my husband received orders right now feels like a lifetime. I find encouragement though in the truth that times of hardship are only here for a season. While I do not think it is wrong to be sad and grieve at the miles separating me from my husband (who also happens to be my best friend) I do think it is a mistake to forget that this is only one season in my life. While today I feel winter in my heart, I am confident spring will come. Growth, laughter, renewal, joy and dancing are on their way. We can embrace with confidence the knowledge that life is not static, it changes. For all the difficulty we as military spouses face, there is a brighter tomorrow. I just have to recall the joy of my husband’s homecoming the last time he deployed to believe this simple fact. On that day, the struggles of a difficult year were eclipsed by the joy and promise of a bright and warm future. Give yourself the freedom to experience the season of this moment in your life and do so with confidence knowing like all obstacles we encounter, this too shall pass.

Welcome Army Wives

"What keeps our faith cheerful is the extreme persistence of gentleness and humor. Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music and books, raising kids -- all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through." -Garrison Keillor

I first read this quote years ago on the cover liner of Amy Grant's "Simple Things" cd. Although I've thought about this quote numerous times, it seems particularly relevant to my life now that my husband has deployed. In my own life, I tend to find the greatest joys in the seemingly insignificant. In sharing daily life with my husband, waking up together, falling asleep together, and laughing in the in between times. It seems so impossible to capture this joy now that he is overseas. This quote reminds me that there is beauty in persistence. There is also beauty in our words, the one thing we are able to hold on to through phone calls and letters. If grace can shine during this deployment, through the gritty and ugly moments that one often thinks she's better off forgetting, if hope and gentleness can permeate the hidden, dark crevices of our hearts and minds, then in the spirit of Garrison Keillor we won't just be surviving, we'll be thriving. Soaked with gravy, I'm faithfully waiting for God's grace to shine through. Will you join me?