Saturday, February 22, 2014

A Time for Everything







A Time for Everything


There is a time for everything,
     and a season for every activity under the heavens;

          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,
          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 from embracing,
          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 do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil - this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
          



Sometimes we just have to surrender to the fact that God has a plan and it's purposeful - it's intentional - and it's higher than ours.  I have to tell you... I don't always like it.  I buck and I flail, but after a few temper tantrums and a lot of tears, I concede, knowing full well that He is God and I am not.  Through it, whatever it is, His grace is always sufficient.  I've learned that first-hand.

We also have to let go of the what-ifs.  "Would the outcome have been different, God, if I had known then what I know now, if we had chosen this and not that..."  It could drive a person crazy if you don't acknowledge that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways.  I've learned that first-hand, too.

Knowing that we committed dad's health and treatment fully to His guidance through fervent prayers, i have to accept that it doesn't matter that we would do it differently today, God was and is control, and He has a time for everything.  After all, we're told in the Psalms that our days were numbered before one of them came to be.  

So, dad's last day came almost seven years ago and I can honestly say that I am reconciled to it being part of God's plan - His timing.

Days often come, though, when I miss him so much it's tangible.  Today is one of those days.  Mom and dad were married 50 years ago today, and I sure wish I was in a grand room filled with family and friends celebrating them and their years together.

There would be music and dancing, and laughs and reminiscing.  His great grandchildren, whom he's not met on this side of heaven, would be up way too late but they'd be giggling on the dance floor right along with us till they couldn't keep their eyes open a moment longer and would fall asleep on some loved-one's lap.

That's what I wish today held.  But today was a different kind of day and God planned it, so I'm okay.







My Mom and Dad on February 22, 1964 with so much life ahead of them.





Sharing on The Sunday Social.

5 comments:

Mom said...

I love how sentimental you are dear Pammie. Although answers may allude, you are so right, God's timing is not to be questioned, and we must accept it. So said, God has been good to me since.

Pam O'Brien said...

I know, Mom. He has been good to you and I'm so thankful.

Brenda said...

Oh sweet Pam. Sometimes this life is so hard. Things happen all of the time that make me wonder if it really is God's will...His timing. But it must be, hadn't it? He is the one and only who knows what every moment of our lifetime holds in store for us, and if not His timing...His plan...then what? Some random coincidence in the grand scheme of things? I think probably not, so we must accept, trust and believe...and I'm so glad that you do! You have always been (and still are) such a great inspiration for me in my faith. I love you dearly and only wish that I could give you a big hug and kiss right now. I never met your dad, but from everything I've heard, I know he was a wonderful man, and I know that you can rejoice in knowing that you will, indeed, see him again one day...what a glorious day it will be! Much love to you today and always! Brenda

Brenda said...

Also meant to say...I think your mother is even more beautiful now than she was on her wedding day!

Pam O'Brien said...

Brenda, you are such a dear friend. I miss doing Thursday night bible study with you... I just miss you, period.
We are now too many states apart... I hope to hug your neck again one day, soon.
Love you much! Pam xoxo