"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:...
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent 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, 4-8 (NIV)
This last weekend, we had the blessing of spending some time away while the babies were loved on by their grandparents. The main thing I was looking for this last weekend was "quiet". It's not that I don't appreciate the noise of toddlers, a dog, cats, and city traffic/sirens, it's just that it makes me appreciate the quiet even more.
I like noisy toys for this reason: when I'm working in the kitchen, I know where my kids are and what they are doing. When one of the kids, or the dog, or the cats isn't here, my home feels incomplete. With all the noise, I can strangely rest. That being said, I have no interest in noisy 'things'. My family makes enough noise, without adding dinging clocks, music/tv background noise, etc. No thank you!
But the noise makes me appreciate the quiet, as much as the quiet makes me appreciate the noise.
Solomon wrote that there was a 'season' for everything. The key is in appreciating the ebbs and flows and the rhythms of life, and in finding a balance. It becomes tiring to appreciate the noise, if I never have a moment of silence. And believe me, the more noise we add to our family, the more I treasure the sacred moments of silence during nap time!
How many other things in life require balance as well? If I always spoke my mind, then those around me may become deaf to my words. But if I never spoke, then I would miss the opportunity to speak words of truth and blessing. "a time to be silent and a time to speak".
There is a time to hold on to memories or dreams, and there's time to move on to the next step in the journey. There's time to stand up for your beliefs, and time to wait in quiet prayer. There's time to comfort others and time to rejoice with them. Time to discipline and time to act in mercy.
The key is in knowing which time is needed...now. I'm so thankful that the Creator who balances the earth on it's axis, rotates it around the sun, makes the sun rise and set each day, and brings in each season in it's proper time (though I'll still complain when spring takes too long to arrive), knows everything I need for my own rhythm and seasons. I can trust Him to help me know when it's time to speak or be silent, to be in the noise or in the quiet, to hold on to something or to let it go. And I can trust Him to hold....me...when the season becomes too hard.
What season are you in now, friend?
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