Brown's Daily Word 9-4-13

  Praise the Lord for the beautiful and brilliant days of September here in New York.  The season of sweet summer is making way unhurried to the dawn of the amazing Autumn season.  We see the luscious green trees are being transformed in to colorful foliage.  The apple trees are over-abundant in fruit.  Even the crab apples are abundant.  New York is one of the top growers of apples.  When Alice and I were in the days of our reckless youth we used raise two gardens, growing all kinds vegetables and some strawberries.  I used to raise bees, harvesting gallons of natural honey.  Now  we have several fruit trees.  The peaches and the pears are luxuriant . We put a small kitchen garden this year.  This is our first kitchen garden.  The Lord blessed us with lots of cucumbers, lots of peppers (both sweet and hot), loads of tomatoes, huge eggplants, beans, pumpkins, squash, and zucchinis.  The garden is sign of our Lord's faithfulness and abundance.     Yesterday I harvested a half-bushel of vine ripe tomatoes as well as some mega sized egg plants.

    Praise the Lord for the seasons in Nature and the seasons of our lives.  Many of my colleagues and friends are turning 65 this year.  Many are contemplating of retirement.  Some are praying for refirement.  I am reflecting on the essence and the mystery of time.  Time is important to us.  When we  were in school, we spent a lot of time trying to learn how to tell time.  The writer of Ecclesiastes asked this question a long time ago, reminding us that one of the most important things we can do is to learn what time it is.
    "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 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 from embracing, 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). 
    "Be very careful, then, how you live—not foolishly, but wisely, knowing how to make the most out of every opportunity, for these days are evil.  Because of this do not be foolish, but know the will of God" (Ephesians 5:15-17).
    Ecclesiastes is a very challenging and provoking book to read because it keeps bringing up problems, but it doesn't really help provide any solutions.  It gives all kinds of helpful, if somewhat sobering, proverbs such as, "What good does it do to become rich, because you will die and your children will spend it all?"  And, "vanity…it is all vanity."  This book, however, sets us up for the coming of Jesus. The preacher of Ecclesiastes is showing us we can't do it by ourselves.  We have to be reborn; we have to learn to rethink and live in a relationship with Jesus Christ.  For a lot of these questions, Jesus is the direct answer.
    Paul reminded the Ephesians that in order to know what time it is—so you could redeem the time—you had to do that in the context of knowing God's will.  There is an image of space and time and the current of God's will running through space and time.  It is one of God working in situation after situation, circumstance after circumstance, person after person to accomplish His good and ultimate will that will be completed with the coming of Christ.  Christ will establish His kingdom and will be part of that.  Until then, there is a current of God's will that is working. Sometimes He's working in ways we can see and celebrate.  Sometimes it flows underneath and is hard to find.  Nevertheless, He's still working.
    The apostle Paul said, "In order to know what time it is, you have to know what the will of God is."  You have to know what God is doing in and around you—in situations around you—so you can align your life and put your life in the center of this current of God's will.  As God is working in those situations, He will make you part of His work.  As part of His work, there will be a time for you to speak and a time to be quiet.  There will be a time to embrace and a time to refrain based on what God is doing in the moment.
  In Christ, our Eternal Contemporary.
  Brown
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     Join us for Wednesday Evening Gathering today:
     6PM  Home made supper.
    6.30PM Bible Study.  Book of Hebrews.