and a time for every purpose under heaven.” I’ve always liked that scripture from Ecclesiastes (and the song). Part of the reason I like this is the inherent promise of a better tomorrow. For every ‘negative’ there’s a positive – and yes, each positive does speak of a negative. However, the point is the balance between the two extremes. We can expect both. Which means we can plan for both: one, to take advantage of all the positive in the positive and two, to prepare in order to ‘handle’ the negative during those times.
The question may be… do you see a season in all your ‘everything’s’? And which (positive-negative) do you focus on? Are you always only seeing the negative that impacts on your life? Do you have any idea how that redirects your thinking… how it skews your mindset? Or are you always only seeing the positive that impacts on your life? And while this approach is considerably improved (my bias) it still is a skewed way of looking at your life. There’s a phrase that most everyone speaks and typically does not apply to one’s own life – ‘Moderation in all things.’
In most of the life adventures and mindset determinations, moderation is an excellent beginning point. Webster uses the following adjectives to define and describe ‘moderation’: composure, restraint, calmness, within reasonable limits. Sounds good? But exactly who and what defines ‘reasonable’? Is it you? Or is it imposed from ‘others’? Undeniably we all seek a state of equilibrium, of balance… however, there has to be passion that compels us in many of the essential ‘things’. Yes?
Passion is not willy nilly, it has to have substance and foundation but it also has to have the ability and opportunity to present its expression (which we allow or disallow). Webster defines ‘passion’: fervor, zeal, ardor. To me, and my world of definitions, life without passion is bland. Passion describes those areas in my life that add spice to my living. Passion is an action word in that you can see or hear passion in the words of the speaker and you can see the concomitant behavior displayed.
And how does this relate to ‘everything having a season’? It tells us that everything has a degree of importance but it is we, the actors, that determine the importance, the relevance, the season’s length and impact. We are not created to be tossed by every wind that comes by. We can be strong enough to experience the fullness that life offers… as long as we are willing to (fill in the blank).
