For Everything There Is a Season

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 – “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 throw away stones and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away; a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.” (NRSVUE)

Certainly, the best loved of all passages from the curious book of Ecclesiastes is chapter 3, verses 1 to 8, which speak of the various seasons of life. Even if you do not know this passage from the Bible, you may be familiar with how Pete Seeger and later The Byrds adapted it in the song “Turn! Turn! Turn!”

This passage comforts us because it gives us perspective no matter where we are in our lives. When we are weeping, we are reminded that we will not weep forever, and that laughter will come in time. And when we are laughing, we are told that weeping will return to us one day, whether we want it to or not. It is a lesson to enjoy the good times and endure the bad times of life, because nothing lasts forever.

It is right to consider the words of Ecclesiastes on this last day of 2025. We might look back at all those “Best of 2025” lists or recaps of the biggest news stories of the year to remind ourselves just how much we have experienced over the past year. Think about where you were on January 1, 2025, or July 1, 2025, and contrast it with where you are today. How much is different? How much is the same? Have you grown? Have you diminished? Thinking in these ways can help us to see the great sense of where we are in the big picture of our lives.

It is also fair to ask which of Ecclesiastes’ seasons we are living in today. It is not the same for all of us. What might be a time for me to keep silent might be a time for you to speak. We all take turns experiencing life’s ups and downs. But whether this is a fruitful or a barren season in your life, remember that it is a time you and God are walking through together. God will laugh with you, cry with you, and remind you that nothing lasts forever. With this truth prayerfully in our minds, we can turn the page into the New Year with faith and hope.

I pray that 2026 might be a year of peace and joy for us all. And in the times when it is not, I pray we may lean upon God and upon one another so that we might know love no matter what the seasons bring us.

Prayer: God of the ages, hear my prayers for love and comfort for me and for my neighbors in the year to come. Amen.