A Time for Everything Under Heaven

Marsha's sister Janice has been struggling with the sickness of her father-in-law. He also had lung cancer and yesterday he passed away. It has become obvious that we have reached the time I life when a time to mourn is the reality. It is hard to imagine that starting with Marsha's brother, then her mother, then Marsha herself, and now my brother-in-law's father, death has been prowling among those I love and mourning is in season again.

It is true that in life we have a season for everything under heaven. In my humble opinion nothing we do can protect us from the multiplicity of events that life can bring. Money can't insulate us from sorrow. Even good health won't turn away sorrows like divorce or the loss of financial security. Children can make poor decisions and leave us to worry or grandchildren can have health problems. A car accident can change everything in a split moment or a house fire or ...... You get the idea. We need to cope with sorrow and pain and we need to deal with happiness. We can spoil our children with too much and suffer the consequences as well. The issue is what we do with the situations that life presents. We can't prevent circumstances beyond our control but we can control our response and where we look for strength and comfort when life brings challenges. Be with us Lord as we face our sorrows.