Saturday, October 24, 2009

Autumn Virtue

This fall I've found myself once again with a busy and often hectic schedule, working three jobs and 55 hours a week. But so far I've been able to retain my Friday afternoons off as time to spend doing things I'd like to do or need to get done. I also bought a new... well, maybe not new, but new-to-me car, that is a lot more reliable than my 2000 Hyundai Accent that was on it's way out for the past year and a half, so am now able to do a bit more traveling and not have to worry about if I'll get there or not, and whether or not I'll get home again.

For the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, Friday I spent finding a visiting a few local yarn shops in towns close to where I live, and then spent the rest of the weekend on a lovely trip north to Sudbury (4 hours) for a few days to visit family, and enjoyed the first real break I can remember in a long time.

Have also spent some Fridays with random friends for lunch, and Knitting Club.

This Friday I went on a short trip to visit friends in London, Ontario. Had never been there before so was nice to see something new.

It's been nice to catch up with people and have time to visit and time to socialize. I missed that.

Autumn will probably quickly slip or pass into winter, the leaves will finish falling and the wet rain will turn to slush and ice and snow. Christmas will soon once again be upon us.

I've been trying to savour the season we're in, savour somehow this season of life I'm in. With various friends I've had various conversations about different stages of life. How sometimes we're surprised with where we are or where we aren't, or how we look upon others as the greener side of the hill. We want to tick off boxes on life's to-do list, and impatiently wait or try to hurry on. We forget that God's timing is not our timing, that our plans are not always God's plans. There's that cliche saying that "yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that's why it's called the present." The theme song of the television show Dawson's Creek had the line "I don't want to wait for our lives to be over, I want to know right now what will it be?" However, there is something to be said for patience.

"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...
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. "

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 11

1 comment:

natasha said...

Can I just say that I frigging love that you quoted a line from Dawson's Creek. You are my favorite.

I too am struggling with the chasm between God's-timing and my-timing, sigh.