Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Ticking away the moments
That make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours
In an off-hand way 

-          Pink Floyd, Time

You’ve most likely heard it said that we all have the same amount of time in a day. The writer of Ecclesiastes points out that there is “a time for every matter under heaven.” But why do we feel like there’s just never enough of it? I suppose it’s because time is the one commodity that is most easily wasted. Whether it’s a matter of procrastination, Netflix binging or a Candy Crush addiction, we tend to “fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way.”

In the season of Lent, we’re called to examine our lives and resist “whatever leads us away from love of God and neighbor.” How might your life of discipleship be changed by recognizing the gift of time and your call to steward it wisely? How could that "extra" time be used to love and serve God and neighbor? 

 Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 NRSV

 1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
 5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
 9 What gain have the workers from their toil?
 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.
 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live;
 13 moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.
 14 I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him.