A Study of Ecclesiastes 3

Verse 2; Times 1 – 4

A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;

A time to be born seems simple enough. A woman goes into labor and after some time baby comes out and voila you’re born. It was your time to be here. Being born physically is just the first of many things that will be born in your life. For example, when a baby is born, that child isn’t the only thing being born that day. It’s also the birth of new parents, the birth of a new mom or a new dad, the birth of a new family.

There are also times when circumstances necessitate a rebirth in someone’s life, like the loss of a job that requires a career change or a relocation to a new area to start fresh. Birthing something new is often painful. It requires us to reach deep down and push something out of us that was just waiting to be alive on the outside.

Then there is also a time to die. As I’ve written in previous posts I’ve lost many people in my life to death. Some I was closer to than other’s but all had an impact on my life. Physical death can cause much pain to those of us that remain behind. The loss leaves holes in us that are hard, if not impossible, to fill.

Just as with birth there are many things that die beside a physical person. I’ve experienced the death of careers and relationships that caused almost as much pain as losing a life itself. Divorce, losing a job, losing a home, changing where you worship; all are types of death.

But death can give way to a new life. Sometimes things in our lives have to die before we can really live and experience new things.

Like birth and death, a time to plant and harvest is very similar. We plant seeds so plants can grow. We take care of that seed by preparing the soil beforehand and then by watering those seeds until they produce a plant and then we watch it produce fruit. We, in turn, harvest the plant for food or sometimes we leave it for the ornamental beauty of the plant itself.

Many times plants are planted in one place and then moved to another. This past gardening season my Dad bought plants to grow in his garden instead of just starting with seeds himself, which he normally does. He took them from the garden center and transplanted them in his own space. Once the plant has finished it’s production, ceased its usefulness, and the season for growing has ended, it is time to pluck it from the earth and discard it to make way for new plantings in the spring.

Whether it be a home, a community, a place of worship, or a career, life is filled with us being planted in various places. Sometimes we are planted in one place until we grow up enough to be planted somewhere else. Many times when our time in those places ends, we are plucked up and planted somewhere else.

These are my thoughts for now on Ecclesiastes 3:2. I hope they help you to look at these “times” as more than just one man’s musings of the literal times in life. I want us to learn coping techniques that can be drawn from these “times” we already understand and see how they can help us with other kinds of birth, death, plantings, and plucking ups.

And as the saying goes “Bloom where you are Planted”

Published by Jeff

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