If you’ve lived long enough, you’ve seen seasons of fire and seasons of rain in your life. Easier times and harder times. Times where you felt dashed against the rocks and times when the wind was full in your sails…
I look around me, and I see people in all kinds of different circumstances of life. For some, there are baby bumps, diapers, teaching little ones to walk and talk. And for others, there is taking care of elderly parents, dealing with death, dealing with sickness and suffering.
And it doesn’t always stay in the “expected order” of death only coming with old age. I even see parents younger than us dealing with the loss of children.
I’m reminded of Ecclesiastes:
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV
Yes, there is fire and there is rain. Sometimes the rain seems to fall down along our cheeks — salty drops flowing seemingly endlessly from our eyes — because the fiery tribal seems so much more than we might even bear.
The song we sang says,
“Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus,
You’ve got to help me make a stand.
You’ve just got to see me through another day.
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way.“
It reminds me of:
In my own life, I can tell you that I’ve seen the Lord at work. I’ve seen Him carry me through obstacles, and I’ve seen Him rain down blessings. And sometimes the true and lasting blessings come down in the tears, in the building of a testimony, in the building of endurance and faith, preparing me so that my trial might help me be there for someone else during theirs. It’s a beautiful thing, this tapestry, this beautiful handiwork of the Lord.
Harold J. Ballinger 