With cooler weather in the forecast, I took the opportunity this past Tuesday to take a little ride on the motorcycle before I washed it up and put the cover on for the last time this season. Although not usually very sentimental, it was with both fondness and dread that I surrendered myself to the fact that the riding season for this “fair weather rider” is likely over.
I have many fond memories of the fun little trips to Duluth, to the Tomah Wisconsin area, or around the area with friends, and I dread the thought of being confined to my rocking chair during the winter season.
As I finished drying off the motorcycle before putting the cover on, I was reminded of Ecclesiastes 3 that life is filled with a variety of seasons; and as you also know, some more pleasant than others. As the writer reminds us, “There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:
2-8 A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.”
So as you read through the variety of “times,” maybe you find yourself in a season of life that is full of excitement, new opportunities, and life. On the other hand, you might be in a season where there seems to be greater discouragement, increased limitations, and grief around every corner.
Regardless of what season you might be in, I thought this familiar prayer written by Reinhold Niebuhr might be appropriate: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking, as God did, this sinful word as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that God will make all things right if I surrender to his will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with God forever in the next. Amen.”
And now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may over flow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).
Time to say “goodbye”, Mike