“That’s a wrap!”
2021. Wow. Ecclesiastes 3 has been on my heart when I reflect the past and look forward and I wanted to share that entire chapter with you:
“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, a time to laugh,
a time to mourn, 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, 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.
Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account. And I saw something else under the sun. In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.” I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?” - Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 (NIV)
Yet we know where we go, if we have Jesus. We spend all of eternity with Him.
I cannot tell you the amount of comfort I get from reading this passage. Not only the first eight verses that tell us there is a time for everything; literally everything … but also God wants us to be happy and do good while we live. To eat and drink and find satisfaction in all our toil - this is the gift of God. And that God is in the place of judgment … and justice.
I struggle sometimes with the lack of justice on this side of the Kingdom. Terry and I have watched evil … so much evil, just walk away with what appears to be zero consequences. Yet I know deep down, there are always consequences. There are consequences for all of our actions.
But I still struggle when I think about some of the horrific evil Michala and I endured, and I know God’s justice will prevail. Evil never wins. Wickedness will be destroyed and God will be glorified, always.
Will it happen before our eyes on this side of the Kingdom? Who knows? There is a good possibility that some of the evil each of us have seen will go unpunished by what we consider to be our “justice” system.
God sees it all, though.
I don’t want to carry the baggage of anger and bitterness anymore, and year by year, I am learning to set it down. There was a time for hauling all of that around, but there was also a time for me to set it down in baggage claim and not pick it back up.
My friend, there is tremendous healing from not carrying your burdens around. There is freedom in not hauling that heavy load into the new year. It’s okay if you don’t set it all down by January 1. It’s okay if you’re still lugging it into March. But let me tell you something … it is the greatest weight loss plan you will ever experience if you stop picking up that heavy luggage, and carrying it around in your daily life.
You will breathe better. You will smile more often. Your laugh will be lighter and more frequent. Your stomach will feel better. Your headaches will disappear. Your walk will be far more enjoyable. The song in your heart will carry over into the world around you.
It is okay to be angry. It is okay to be depressed. It is okay to grieve. It is okay to cry. It is okay to shout. It is okay to seek justice for the wicked and evil. There is a time for all of those emotions.
It is also okay to be at peace and be happy. It is okay to laugh. It is okay to live. It is okay to be joyful. It is okay to be quiet. It is okay to trust God to revenge the evil. There is a time for all of these emotions, too.
And happiness feels like the greatest weight loss program for your new year’s “resolution.”
Happy New Year, dear ones. I pray you shed the excess load of anger, bitterness, sadness and frustration, and run with the joy that comes with freeing yourself from those heavy burdens.