North Star News 06-26-2014

“God has made everything beautiful in its time.”  Ecclesiastes 3:11

There once was a little girl who climbed up into her grandmother’s lap after a busy day at Vacation Bible School where she had learned about God’s creation of the world and all its creatures.  She asked her grandmother, “did God make me?”  Her grandmother told her that God had, indeed, created her.  The little girl asked, “And did God make you?”  Her grandmother again affirmed that yes, indeed, God had created her.  The little girl looked up at the wrinkles on her grandmother’s face and the grey hair on her head and said, “don’t you think he is doing a better job now than he used to?”  After the laughter, her grandmother gently said, “No, God made everything good and doesn’t need to improve his skills.”

Ecclesiastes 3 begins “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” and then goes on to list 14 couplets beginning with “a time to be born, and a time to die.”  It is soon after this that it says, “God has made everything beautiful in its time.”  There certainly are seasons of life, some of which people embrace with joy and some of which people fear, but all of which are part of God’s great plan.  Our God has created the world so that one generation follows another with each new generation bringing a fresh start to life and a renewal of the earth.   Both the vim and vigor of youth and the quiet dignity of old age are good in their time.  The world needs the brash enthusiasm of the youth who seem to question everything and the wisdom of their elders who have experienced many things and seem so content with the way things are.  The clear skin, 20/20 vision, and bright blonde hair of that little girl are beautiful and so are the smile lines (aka: wrinkles), faded blue eyes, and grey hair of her grandmother.

One of the 14 couplets of Ecclesiastes 3 says there is “a time to keep and a time to cast away.”  The debate about what to keep and what to cast away keeps rolling on through the generations and often pits one generation against another.  Older folks who are downsizing their living arrangements often find it hard to decide what to keep and what to cast away.  Some of us find it hard to throw away those beautiful flowers given by a loved one, but there comes a time to chuck them out because their time of beauty has passed.  Others of us lament the way the world is changing and cling to traditions and customs that out to be left behind as something new unfolds.

The wonder of God’s creation is that every faded flower is followed by a new one of equal beauty.  The tulips of spring are followed by the roses of high summer and then by the mums of autumn.  Even the cold of winter with its snow and ice has a certain kind of beauty.  Psalm 104:30 says, “when you send forth your Spirit, they [all living things] are created, and you renew the face of the earth.”

            God is still renewing his creation as one season follows another, as some flowers fade and others come into bloom, and as babies are born to take the place of the aged ones who soon will be gone to their eternal rest.  When it comes to people, let us all cherish everyone, because each and every one is precious in the sight of the Lord, be they young or old, and all of them are beautiful in their time.