A time for everything

With great feeling, I said to a client wrestling with an important decision: "Don't worry, there is a time for everything under heaven."

Some deep corner of my memory conjured up this thought from the Book of Ecclesiastes. 

I’m not the biblical type, so I probably first heard the words as a child when my mother played Pete Seeger records, including Turn! Turn! Turn!  Or maybe it was listening to the Byrds’ hit on a transistor radio.  Whatever the source of my memory, here’s the King James Version:

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 leave the debate about the deep meaning of this wonderful text to biblical scholars – not to mention fans of both Pete Seeger, Roger McGuinn and the rest of the Byrds – but a few things stand out for me:  

• With hard work, the fruits of our labor, if not realized today will be realized in time – something good will come to pass

• There is a time for all emotions because they come and go – from feeling good to bad, happy to unhappy, secure to insecure and in-love to out-of-love
• Time takes care of everything –- it lets us heal, realize our dreams, forgive, let go and move on  

• Impermanence and change are the unavoidable constants – so embrace them 

Enjoy your time,
Coach Minda