From the Bible: King James version
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven
DRIFTING
Mary Oliver
I was enjoying everything: the rain, the path
wherever it was taking me, the earth roots
beginning to stir.
I didn’t intend to start thinking about God,
it just happened.
How God, or the gods, are invisible,
quite understandable
But holiness is visible, entirely.
It’s wonderful to walk along like that,
thought not the usual intention to reach an answer
but merely drifting.
Like clouds that only seem weightless.
but of course are not.
Are really important.
I mean, terribly important.
Not decoration by any means.
By next week the violets will be blooming.
Anyway, this was my delicious walk in the rain.
What was it actually about?
Think about what it is that music is trying to say.
It was something like that.
THIS TIME
Sarah West
I chose to be here at this time
To hear the cracking
to see the broken branch fall
I wanted to feel the weight of wrong
and the release and exhilaration of right
The pendulum swung out so far
but I held on with faith, waiting,
knowing that it would swing back
and as it changed direction
it’s arch would shed it’s load.
I have a golden ticket to see
the earth groan
and humans stop to listen.
For nature to re-occupy herself
as the engines lock down.
Spring arrived alone
Sunlight became currency
Greed slide away,
and sharing saved lives
essential tasks took centre stage
This was not just a de-clutter but a debacle.
Nothing was left of the material gain
Everything shattered.
Breathing. Standing. Watching.
With each day the worn out world expired.
Our leaders didn’t know what to do
Everyone had an opinion
but the talking slowly stopped
and now we stand
clean of old habits
free to choose again
I smell the smell of fresh humanity.
radiant from the corona
ready to create a new age.
We will sculpt, weave, write, paint, cook,
compose, build, forge and hatch.
We will split open our imagination
and birth our new selves.
What will we choose?
Who will we be?
I have a golden ticket to begin again,
to swing from dark to light
to reinvent this time.
From Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM (Franciscan monk), a leader of the New Mexico based ‘Center for Action and Contemplation.’
Fr Richard starts with a line from a psalm:
“This is the day God has made memorable, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalm 118:24).
And then in his own words: Your task is to find the good, the true, and the beautiful in everything, even and most especially the problematic. Trust me on this: The bad is never strong enough to counteract the good.