To everything there is a season

As fall is creeping up on us and another summer comes to an end I find myself trying to get in as much as I can in the summer experience. This summer is slightly different in some respects. My son is heading to middle school and a camp I served in closed for the last time. One is a step up in my sons (and our life) the other is a mix of emotions as I spent a few days going through the thousands of pictures and videos I took there in the time I was there. So many faces have come and gone and a place, while it still exists, will never be the same in the Augusts ahead. The warmth it had will now be cold. If you have ever been in a home where there was lots of warmth and love and everyone had moved out and you came back to see what is left. Some remarked that this is how it will feel.

As one person recently told me, it is good to let go. Because holding on to things too tightly can lead to a negative mental state and ultimately prevent personal growth. I believe it is true. God never intended anything in this world to be permanent. Just a place we have to pass through to get to eternal life.

If you were around in 1965 you likely heard a song on the radio or TV called “Turn Turn Turn” by The Byrds. It was a very popular song that still remains popular today. In part it was written in response to what became the Vietnam war but it summarized the whole of life. Some may not realize that its origin is actually from Ecclesiastes 3 in the Bible.

3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

11 He hath made everything beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

Summers, falls, and all seasons will continue to come and go. People will get older and eventually their lives will end. Places will open and close. Some things will be built while others are torn down. It’s all part of the temporary nature of this world. One we were not meant to make permanent, even though at times we still can try.

Your Brother in Christ,

Steve Koenig

Lakeshore Fellowship