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.

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

I was asked to draw a graph of my life, featuring major ups and downs, today.  It was an interesting experience but what was most interesting was the discussion afterwards. I've always thought that I had a positive outlook on life, but I will admit that that has been masked somewhat by experiences in the last few months, but whilst speaking in our groups, I realised that there is so much more I could do to stop the immense downs.

Something I've asked an awful lot recently is "Why me?", and "Why is this happening to me?", but today I learned that, maybe, I should ask, "Why not me?" because I am strong.  Everything is a test and we should learn from our downs so that we are prepared for the future.

Another interesting thing I learned was that the most fertile soil is at the foot of a mountain, so things grow better before the mountain climb.  This of course is something I don't just mean literally. We can imagine the mountain as the climb up to your high points in life, but we grow more and understand ourselves more when we're at the foot of the mountain.

"When you climb a mountain, that's only half the journey"

Stay Strong
Michael