"There is a season for everything: ... a time for giving birth, a time for dying" ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 This morning I was looking at the maple tree in my neighbor's yard as it is beginning to push forth new leaves. Another season is about to end as another begins. The balance between one season to the next reminds me of the balance between our life and death.
Affirming the seasons of our life is always filled with expectations for the future. In many ways I'm always thinking of eternity. Even as the seasons change around me, each day I am still able to hold on to the promises of Jesus. It is the "holding on" that makes it possible for us to embrace our future, as well as, our past. Affirming the present means remembering the past and expecting more to come in the future. Rarely do we take the time to celebrate the present. One of the things that I have discovered through the seasons of life, is that rarely do we accept the life that we presently are living. More often the present is denied, the past becomes a source of discontent, and the future is looked upon as something that we hope for. When Jesus came into the world to speak and to offer life eternal, he came to free us from the boundaries of time. I was sitting with a woman dying of cancer almost a decade ago, and there is not a day that goes by that I don't think of what she shared with me. As she drifted from this world to the next, she opened her eyes and shared, "Todd, I just saw heaven, and I picked out a beautiful bench that you and I are going to sit on and talk about this day." I remember telling her, "While I am looking forward to heaven, I hope that it is a long time from now." She smiled and said, "Guess what I have already learned about heaven? There is no such thing as time in heaven." To which I responded, "Now that would be heaven." Through Jesus we have learned that not only is God with us currently in this time and space, but also in the moments we seek forgiveness and healing for the things of our past, but that we also have a future filled with things that we have yet to encounter. For us, our seasons are filled with our birth, death, and resurrection. For God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn the world, but to bring life eternal. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2019 Comments are closed.
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AuthorRev. G. Todd Williams is the author of the book, "Remember Me When..." and is a former hospice chaplain and pastor. Archives
February 2024
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