Saturday Sermonette - Life after Despair

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 "To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which 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; a time to get and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away; a time to rend and a time to sew; a time to keep silence and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time of war and a time of peace."


I was thinking about the US time change this week (from daylight savings time to standard time) and it brought to mind this passage.

The part that means the most to me is the one about there being a time to mourn and a time to dance. All of us go through periods of mourning. There doesn't have to be a death of someone you love to create a time of mourning, although that certainly does it.

Sometimes it's the loss of a job, or a move that you don't want to make, or the death of a marriage you thought would last forever, a serious illness, or sometimes just a chemical inbalance in the brain.

At any rate, you tend to forget while you're in mourning that the despair won't last forever. Eventually, if you hang in there, you will feel like dancing again. Psalm 30, verse 5b says, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

The night of mourning may last a few days, or sometimes much longer, but eventually you'll begin to notice sunrises--and sunsets and rainbows--again. There've been times when I thought the night would never end, but it always does.

Hang in there just a little longer. Watch for the awe-inspiring sunrise. It will happen--I promise.