“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing….” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
In the pinball game of thought that plays in my head, this passage (used in a Byrds song, Turn, Turn, Turn) came to mind after Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle popped into my head. (Boy, am I dating myself here!) Croce’s song contains both a wish (“If I could save time in a bottle”) and a lament (“But there never seems to be enough to do the things you wanna do once you find them”).
Anyway, what jumps out at me today is the “a time to break down, and a time to build up” part. It just occurs to me that we have had enough breaking down recently and it is damn well time to build up. In life’s vending machine of response, when faced with the “break down” or “build up” choice, it is time to opt for the latter, not the former — if for no other reason than “there never seems to be enough time to do the things you wanna do once you find them.”
It occurs to me... 