I just sat on my bed and read the entire book of Ecclesiastes- what wisdom and perspective! I often read this book when I need a little more of that in my life…
About three and half years ago life was feeling pretty difficult so I started painting as therapy. It was new and fun… it helped. It has probably been almost two years since I last painted.. My last project was a series of the seasons as a reflection of Ecclesiastes 3:1-13. As I painted it I was reminded that life is all about going through seasons, ups and downs. It would be weird if it was always spring or fall and it would suck if winter lasted a whole year. And as much as I love summer, I probably appreciate it so much because winters in Montreal are sooo crappy (I need to start skiing again!). This is what Ecclesiastes says :
About three and half years ago life was feeling pretty difficult so I started painting as therapy. It was new and fun… it helped. It has probably been almost two years since I last painted.. My last project was a series of the seasons as a reflection of Ecclesiastes 3:1-13. As I painted it I was reminded that life is all about going through seasons, ups and downs. It would be weird if it was always spring or fall and it would suck if winter lasted a whole year. And as much as I love summer, I probably appreciate it so much because winters in Montreal are sooo crappy (I need to start skiing again!). This is what Ecclesiastes says :
1 There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:
2-8 A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.
9-13 But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I've had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he's left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he's coming or going. I've decided that there's nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That's it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It's God's gift.
Bottom line is that there is a time and season for everything and life won’t always be happy, mountain top experiences and it also wont always be difficult. A friend of mine who’s going through one of the most difficult seasons of his life wrote this in an email to me last week, “on the Mountain Tops we don't experience growth... in fact so true... most real mountains don't have much vegetation on them at the top..... but in the valleys where all the nutrients and water lies, is where the rich growth takes place..... so we don 't want to be in the valley... we want to be singing and laughing on the mountain tops BUT we don't grow unless we hit a valley........” That is wisdom from experience!
A couple weeks ago I went to my basement closet to retrieve the three ‘season’ paintings I did a couple years ago: winter, fall and spring (in that order). I didn’t feel ready to paint summer at the time and figured I would do it ‘when the time/season is right’… So, although I’m going to put my winter tires on my car tomorrow morning, this weekend I’m going to buy my canvas to paint summer- Life isn't 'perfect', but it’s time and a new season of life for me…
A couple weeks ago I went to my basement closet to retrieve the three ‘season’ paintings I did a couple years ago: winter, fall and spring (in that order). I didn’t feel ready to paint summer at the time and figured I would do it ‘when the time/season is right’… So, although I’m going to put my winter tires on my car tomorrow morning, this weekend I’m going to buy my canvas to paint summer- Life isn't 'perfect', but it’s time and a new season of life for me…
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