A Time for Everything

What gifts has God given you throughout your life? At every stage of our lives, God offers us gifts; and I believe that they are more valuable than all the physical comforts on which we frequently focus when we count our blessings. I list 5 of them in this sermon. Curious? Read it and find out which 5 I have identified!

Has anybody here ever said, “I wish that I were younger,” or “I wish that I were older”? I’ll confess that I have! When I was a child, I couldn’t wait to get older so that I could do the things that my parents said I would be able to do “when I was older.” Then I became a teenager, and I couldn’t wait to grow into an adult so that I would have the freedom to do what I wanted to do. When I was a young adult, I wanted to be older so that I would have the money to do all those things that I wanted to do, but couldn’t afford yet. Now that I’m a – well, let’s call it a “mature adult” – I’m looking forward to retiring so that I have the time to do all those things that I still want to do. And I imagine that when I’m an older adult, I will yearn for the carefree days of youth when I had the energy to do all those things that I want to do! Does this sound familiar to any of you? I imagine that it does. But if we spend our lives yearning for a time in the future or a time in the past, we risk missing what we have right now! The text from Ecclesiastes that you just heard (3:1-8) can be a wake-up call when we start yearning for what was or for what might be. God in God’s wisdom, says Ecclesiastes, has appointed a time for everything. But what happens, I think, is that we start to focus on what we don’t have – freedom, money, time, or energy – and we miss the gifts that God offers us in each period of our lives. And there are gifts that come to us as we move through our lives. For a moment, let’s focus not on the limitations of our lives, but on the blessings.

For starters, God gives to each child the gift of enthusiasm. Have you ever watched a child running towards a playground to swing or slide or climb on the monkey bars? Sure, you have; we all have! I have yet to see a child at a playground exclaiming, “Bor-ring!” No, they head for the slide like we head for the bank when we deposit our income tax refund! And if children are doing something that they enjoy, they are enthusiastic no matter how many times they have done it! My grandson Tanner loves to go to the Newport Aquarium. We have yearly passes to the Aquarium, so we go frequently. Each time we go, he exclaims, “I can’t wait to walk through the tunnel and see the sharks!” What a gift that enthusiasm is, not only to him, but to all of us who are with him.

To young adults, God has given the gift of optimism. Most young people see the world as their oyster; and they can’t wait to get at life! They are convinced that they can change the world for the better if they only work hard enough; and thank God for that! We need those young adults to remind us that we have the power to affect things! I’ll bet that you’ve never heard a pessimistic college graduation speech! Why, as you look out over the sea of mortar boards, the optimism is so deep that you can practically swim in it! In his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, Steve Jobs told the graduates this: “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” That’s optimism in a nutshell. You can do it; and you will do it!

Of course, we don’t stay young forever. But as we age, we perfect a set of skills. We learn how to do all kinds of things well! Let’s call it the gift of proficiency. Some of us learn how to craft wood, while others learn how to craft words into books or sermons. Some of us learn how to manage a household, while others learn how to manage an office. Some of us learn how to tame kindergarteners, while others learn how to tame columns of figures. And every single one of those skills, as well as all the others in our skill set, is a gift of God! Although it may take us years to perfect them (and let’s not compare ourselves to Mozart, who was composing music at the age of 5), they are gifts that we can use for the good of others and for our own satisfaction.

As we move through adulthood, we come to what I call the “slow-down years.” I’m there now. We’re still using our skills – and by now, we have quite a few – but we’re not moving quite as quickly as we once were. Some folks are looking towards retirement and the slower pace that it can bring. We start to notice aches and pains that we didn’t seem to have last week; and we can’t get as much accomplished in a day as we used to. But a gift comes with all that – the gift of courage. Oh, it’s not the kind of courage that we see on TV, where people face criminals or even zombies! No, this is the courage to live day in and day out in the face of difficulties. And by the slow-down years, we’ve all had quite a few! We’ve said goodbye to friends or family members. We’ve dealt with financial problems, or with jobs that are less than ideal. We may be living with continuing health problems – our own or that of a family member. But through it all, we have learned how to stand up to a life that is frequently unfair, to look it in the eye, and to say to its face, “I will not give up!” Do you remember the movie Rocky? Do you remember what Rocky looked like after he had fought with Apollo Creed? He was battered and bloodied, eyes blackened, with bruises everywhere – and he refused to give up. That’s the kind of courage that I’m talking about – the courage that refuses to give up no matter what happens.

Finally, we come to the “golden years” (although I’m not so sure that they are always golden). It’s the time when we’re called “elderly,” or sometimes simply “older.” I choose to call them “the culmination years,” because they are the result of all that has happened to us during the rest of our lives. What gift could those years possibly bring? While society’s gifts to older adults come in the form of hearing aids and bifocals and Meals on Wheels; God offers a much more valuable gift. God offers wisdom. Now, anyone can accumulate knowledge. But wisdom is not only having knowledge; it is understanding how to apply that knowledge. Wisdom is only acquired by living many years and experiencing all kinds of different things. Wisdom listens patiently and lovingly to a distraught teenager who has just been rejected from her college of choice and who thinks the world is about to end. Wisdom mentors a young man who is just getting his feet wet in his new job, and isn’t quite sure how to get along with his co-workers. Wisdom not only knows what to say; wisdom knows when and how to say it. And the wisest among us are the older adults who have lived and learned and listened: to others, to their own inner voices, and to God.

Now, life isn’t the same for all of us, of course; and so, not all of us will live out these stages quite in the same way. We are all unique individuals. We were all brought up in different ways; we have all had different life experiences; and we all live in different environments. But we all face the same quandary: how to progress through our lives not only accepting the new gifts that God offers us, but also holding on to the gifts that we have already been given! We all know people who have lost their childlike enthusiasm for life. Their life drags on with terrible sameness, one grim, grey day after another. Nothing, for them, is exciting enough to care about. And certainly we know people who have lost the optimism of their youth! The world is beyond redemption; it’s going to hell in a handbasket. Just ask them; they’ll tell you! The fullness of life that God offers us is the integration of all the gifts that we receive during our lives: enthusiasm, optimism, proficiency, courage, and wisdom.

But how in the world can we do that? The answer is that we have to help one another. When older and younger come together in community, they offer one another their gifts. The enthusiasm of childhood is contagious, and those of us who are older can reclaim it. The optimism of youth reminds us that God has promised to work with us in making the world a better place; and that Jesus has already redeemed it. The courage and wisdom of older adults can a model for younger folks who are facing new experiences in their lives. And all of us can use our skills to make the world a more peaceful and fulfilling place.

God gives us amazing gifts during our lives; far more than the physical comforts that we so often focus on. Jesus has redeemed us and continues to redeem us from all the traps that would keep us from being less than what God created us to be. And the Spirit fills us and guides us and empowers us to live life joyfully, creatively, and lovingly. Yes, there is a time for everything. May we accept God’s gifts with gratitude, and move ahead into the future with anticipation. The best may, indeed, be yet to come!