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Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
There is a time for everything, and a season for every
activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear 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 scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
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.
What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen
the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time.
He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God
has done from beginning to end.
Have you ever read the back of a box of
Pop-Tarts? In case you prefer your Pop-Tarts warm, here are the instructions
for heating:
1. Remove pastry from pouch. Place pastry on
microwave-safe plate.
2. Microwave on high for 3 seconds.
Something about that makes me laugh! What has
happened to the world when we need a breakfast we can make in 3 seconds? Is it
possible we are all moving just a little too fast?
Years ago I heard Pastor Bill Hybels of Willow
Creek Community Church tell a story that went something like this. He came home
after a full day at the office for a quick supper after which he had to run
right back out to a meeting at church. Just as dinner was wrapping up and he
was preparing to get up from the table his adolescent daughter began telling
him about something that had happened in her day at school. A few sentences
into her story he interrupted her and said, “Honey, can you speed it up a
little, I can listen fast.” His daughter paused, thought for a moment, then
said, “That’s alright Dad, I’ll wait until you can listen slow.”
That’s what one writer meant when he wrote, “Our
relationships are being starved by velocity.”
The truth is it’s impossible to “listen fast.”
It’s impossible to “care fast.” Those are oxymorons. By definition, to listen
and to care take focused attention and an investment of time.
Likewise, it’s impossible to build a
relationship while simultaneously moving at high velocity. Remember my story of
the runaway treadmill? Imagine that my wife was on the treadmill right next to
me and it had a similar acceleration problem. What kind of conversation would
we be able to have while both struggling to keep up with the speed of our
respective treadmills? At best, our relationship would be focused on just
trying to survive the next few minutes – let alone the next few hours, days or
years together!
Yet that’s how we try to live. That’s how we try
to build relationships with our spouses, with our children, with our friends, and even with God.
The ancient writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us
that:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every
activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die…
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance…
a time to embrace and a time to refrain…
a time to be silent and a time to speak…
So how do we know what time it is?
We have to pay attention. We have to listen. We
have to slow down. Think about it; just as you can’t “listen fast,” neither can
you “laugh fast” or “mourn fast” or “dance fast.” The most deeply important
things in our lives don’t happen at velocity but rather when we stay in one
place long enough to engage with what is happening now – and not with the next
thing on our to-do list.
Take a little extra time today to ask God to
help you pay attention to what he is doing all around you – and within you.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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1 comment:
A book I am reading proposes that life can only be lived fully if we "attend" to the gifts that God has given us in every moment - if we slow down enough to notice them, "name it" if you will, and then offer up thanks for it. Our moving at high velocity is an affront to God, because we miss so much of what He intended for us to see and dwell in (and do).
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