"To everything, turn, turn, turn..."

If you are middle-aged (somewhere between 40 and 70,) then the excerpt from Ecclesiastes, in the Lectionary this morning, probably started the juke-box in your mind. The Byrds version of this scripture passage belongs, now, to several generations and takes us all back to some place or time when the power of those words changed us. “To everything (turn, turn, turn,) there is a season (turn, turn, turn,) and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Once a song starts playing in my head, I’ve found there is only one way to make it stop. I need to let it play through to the end. Then, with the last note, I can bid it goodbye for the day. It works for me. Give it a try when you feel possessed by a favorite tune.
Although this passage is very familiar to me, the end of today’s First Reading was not. It was a very short verse at the end, that I’ve never really heard before, that grabbed my attention this morning.

“[GOD] has made everything appropriate to its time,

and has put the timeless into their hearts…”
(Eccl. 3:11)

I am in awe of this GOD who created time for our blessing and, at the same time, wired us for eternity. When the seasons of human life shift with birth, death, love and longing, it is wise to remember this verse. In time, we know joy and pain, laughter and suffering. But, we know at our deepest core, that our true home is in GOD’s timeless heart. In prayer, can we enter that time beyond time – the perfection of the present moment in which we simply are before our GOD. May your prayer be blessed with such a stillness and your days, weeks, and years be marked by the gratitude with which you accept all time as gift.

Blessings and love to you all…faithful friends!

- Sister Vicki