Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verses 1 through 8:
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.
The words of this meditation are so beautiful and so true even our Baptist forebears memorized it — in spite of its favorable commentary on the “sin” of dancing.
As one Baptist preacher put it, “I never saw a praying knee attached to a dancing foot.”
Something tells me he saw a lot more than he would admit.
There is a time to dance; and there is also a time to mourn.
There is a time for all manner of things under the sun, and knowing this is a matter of wisdom.
There is a time for dancing; for the joy of our hearts gets pumped throughout our bodies.
There is a time for mourning; for the angel not only said, “He is risen,” but also said, “He’s not here.”
There is a time to be silent; for when our mouths are open our ears are shut.
And there is a time to speak; for to say nothing is also to say something.
Richard Rohr calls what I am getting at “non-dualism”. The dualistic mind sees things only as “either/or”. The non-dualistic mind sees things as “both/and”. Mourning and dancing both belong. Right and left belong. Male and female belong. Embracing and refraining from embracing both belong.
All things belong. All things in their own due measure and moment. There is a time for everything.
And wisdom tells us what time it is.
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