“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven;

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.”  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Last week, we took down Henry’s crib and most of the decorations in his room.  We are moving and it’s time.  I remember how excited we were when we decorated his room.  We had moved into a new house and had a new baby.  It was a time for building.  Last week, like much of this year, was a time for tearing down.  I took a few last pictures of his bed and his snuggle puppy and then we took the crib apart to prepare for the move and took his name down from the wall.  It is the end of something and the beginning.  I feel sad, but Henry was always going to move out of his crib.  This was just not the way I had envisioned it.  That does’t mean that it is wrong.  God often works in ways we don’t understand.

In order to move on to whatever God has in store for us next, we have to leave where we are.

In order to move on to closeness with Him, I have to leave my old habits.

In order to move on to new growth, I had to be pruned.

In order to meet Jesus face to face, I will have to someday leave this body, just like Henry.

Leaving is okay.  It is sad but also sweet.

In order to be whole, I have to be broken.  Thank you Lord for your brokenness.

Thank you Jesus for not letting me stay in my old rut.  Thank you loving me enough to push me onto a new path. Thank you for guiding me out of spiritual desert into a land of fruitfulness.

I think of the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary to tell her that she would miraculously have a child.  “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have have found favor with God.  You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”  Luke 1:30-33

I can only imagine how those words rang in Mary’s ears as she watched her son, her baby, being beaten, mocked, humiliated, and crucified.  I can almost hear what must have been her silent prayer.

“Please God.  Please.  Not my son.  Not him.  You gave him to me.  Why would you take him?  How can you let this happen?!”

Mary must have questioned what God was doing.  She must have wondered how it would all work out.  This was not how she had envisioned it.  But God’s glory and his redemption of humanity were revealed in Christ’s sacrifice and suffering.  God’s plan was good, even though it surely didn’t make sense to Mary at the time.

What in your life seems impossibly broken?  What seems too far gone for God to make right?  Have faith.  Trust him. There is a time for everything and God will do his work in his time.