There is a Time for Everything – Br. David Vryhof
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Ecclesiastes 3:1-11a
We brothers have been thinking a lot about ‘time’ this year. In fact, we’ve chosen ‘time’ to be the overall theme for our Saturday workshops and for our Lenten video series, which we are filming this week. So it’s – “timely” – that this reading from Ecclesiastes should come up today.
We’ve chosen to think about time because so many people in our culture today wrestle with time. For many there doesn’t seem to be enough time. They race from one thing to the next, always battling the clock, frantically trying to get the items on their “to do” lists finished before time runs out. There seems to be very little time to simply enjoy life, to savor it, and delight in it. And, contrary to what many might imagine about our life here, monks are not exempt from these pressures. We too face the challenge of using time well.
The very important message of Ecclesiastes 3 is this: that God has created time, that it is a gift not a burden, and that there is a time for everything – and it is enough. There is a time and season for everything, the author reminds us: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to throw away and a time to gather, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to weep and a time to laugh. All of these things are necessary and good, and God has made time for each of them.
Furthermore, God has given everyone particular work to do, the author tells us. And there is enough time to do what we have been asked by God to do, to be what we have been asked by God to be. There is time to work and time to rest, time to carry out our tasks and time to play, times to be together and times to be alone, time to accomplish and time to enjoy our accomplishments. All time belongs to God, and there is enough.
Our difficulty with time, then, arises because we over-extend ourselves, we try to have it all and do it all, we fail to discern that which is essential and that which is superfluous. Our lives become over burdened with too many responsibilities, too many relationships, too many interests, too many commitments, too many possessions, too many “priorities.”
Why not make this a time for sorting out your life, for choosing what is essential, for investing only in those activities that have proven value, for uncluttering your living spaces, your closets, your calendar? Why not make this a time for examining your mission and purpose in life, and choosing to do only what enhances and contributes to that mission? Why not make this a time for re-balancing your time and re-distributing your energies and resources?
“For everything there is a time.”
My Grandma used to say, “Time is a gift, don’t waste it.” She also taught me that to watch a sunset till the colors were all gone was not wasted time. It’s the learning to use the gift wisely that I work at each day. Perspective is the word that comes to my mind. Thank you for the message.
We all have 24 hours a day, we all have the same gift. Use it wisely. When one says they don’t have enough time, one is grumbling at the Creator’s gift.
After a week of seeming to have nothing like enough time for all the Lenten and other chores, this message is definitely ‘timely’. It reminds me of Rabbi Heschel’s claim that it is the Sabbath, not the demands of our lives, that is the true ‘architecture of time’ – rest giving the required ‘shape’ to the demands. Of course we have enough time – we just have to order it in God’s way instead of our alternating modes, between frantic and idle. Thank you, Br. David, for this reminder!
I feel the Holy Spirit wants me to be a writer. I have struggled accomplishing this, primarily due to chronic bad health.
But, reading your message today gave me hope to try again, and not let age or time or pain stand in my way. Thank you and bless you.
I needed to hear this in exactly the way you wrote it. Thank you, Brother!
Thank you, Brother. The message I am left with is ……..It is Time to start again.
Great words of wisdom. Thanks
This is beautiful thank you for reminding me of the gift.
Thank you Br. David for this great reminder that there are seasons for everything, even the seasons of sadness and doubt give way (make a way?) for the seasons of faith and purpose, and that though all the seasons, God gifts us with patience to let the seasons do their thing.
Thank you Brother David, I needed to hear this. I need to be more intentional about my use of time. Thank you again.