3:1 For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted;
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

In middle-school and high-school I was obsessed with these verses from Ecclesiastes. It is one of the more “quotable” pieces of scripture simply meaning that many people, faith-filled or not, know these words. In fact, I did not learn it at church but rather in a series of books I was reading about youth and young adults who had received terminal cancer diagnoses. The author used this verse to show the point in the story where the main character had accepted their prognosis and was comfortable with the fact that they were about to die.

The entire book wrestles with the question, “what is the meaning of all this?” It’s easy to see the benefits of healthy living, but what is the ultimate point of life itself? While I’m not sure I have an answer to that question other than “to love one another,” it’s a question I know we all wrestle with at one point or another.

I bring it up not to cause an internal crisis for you, but because I am hearing a lot of you say, “then what’s the point? Why do we bother?” Things are tough right now, emotionally and physically, both inside and outside of the church. These both significantly impact our spiritual well-being and vice versa. As your pastor, this is deeply troubling.

Whatever is plaguing you today, be it the state of the world or the state of the church, know that God has promised it will all be made for good. Somehow, someway, God will make things right. And yet, this doesn’t mean there won’t be pain along the way.

These verses from Ecclesiastes reminds me that those moments of pain, and confusion, and struggle, are just a piece of it all. Death may be all consuming, but so is birth. Planting may seem like a waste of time as plants struggle to take root, but the harvest is coming. Or as a friend of mine says, “it’s just a blip on the radar.”

Friends we watch every spring as plants we had forgotten about push through the soil to grow in the open air. We watch as bushes and trees, which certainly look dead, begin to bud and blossom. We watch as some of God’s creatures we haven’t seen in months return to our yards.

This is the time for a season of newness; new beginnings, new stories, new vision. It doesn’t always look like we want, but God has promised to be here with us through it.

Blessings friends,
Pastor Nicole