A time for everything

To everything there is a season,

and a time to every purpose under heaven:

Ecc 3:1-8

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 sow;

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.

I was just going to put in the first verse of this very well known passage, but the more I read it the less I wanted to separate it at any point ...so you have the whole thing!!!

On the weekend we finally closed up our pool for the winter. It´s a big job because you have to make sure the pool is completely clean and then put a special chemical in it for the duration of the winter. Once that is done, you have to proceed screw in all these screws which are placed at regular intervals all around the pool, and then attach the awning to cover it as you can see.

This is a pretty straight forward and uncomplicated procedure but one that is nonetheless time consuming. It's always good then, to do it when the whole family is together and as the saying goes..., "many hands make light work!" thus making the amount of screws one has to screw in limited to about 8 or so instead of 50.

It also means that lifting the awning is also divided by 5!!! This can be a pretty fun thing to do because you have make sure you all move at once and quickly attach parts as you go so none of awning ends up in the pool! Quite some feat I can assure you. Not that having it fall in the pool is the end of the world, but if it does happen, (and you can tell at this point that I speak from experience!!) you have to pull it out and repeat the whole process again, but now with the added weight of the water....nothing to sneeze at I can assure you!

This whole procedure brings conclusion to our swimming pool activities until next year. The time to cast away our swimming togs and inflatable swimming rings and grab for our jumpers and jackets has come! It´s letting go of one to grab the other...

As I was mulling these ideas around in my head I was reminded of yet another song I had written back when I was travelling with Noah on the Ark... well...you know what I mean... a while ago . It´s a little chorus, short and sweet and the lyrics are:

Let go, let God, Let Jesus have his way with you (x2)

For He has created you

He knows what is best for you

And He wants what is best for you

So let Him have his way (x2)

Now I can just see you standing up by your computer and pointing your proverbial fingers at the screen, heads tilted to one side, saying.... "Hey Ally, you did this before... You shared a song, promised a recorded version and WE ARE STILL WAITING!!!!!"

I could almost hear you guys saying it as I wrote down the lyrics... and of course...you are right... Sadly I have not been able to fulfill my promise because of technical difficulties... I know that sounds like a classic excuse, but it is true.... The microphone is broken and until now we haven´t be able to get a new one.... So to answer you question...it is still in the pipeline and YES I will record this one too (Do I hear a "yeah right" complimented with the rolling of the eyes here???!!!) when I do the Open hands song that I promised back in July... Man is it really that long ago???

Any way, is there something that God is asking you to pack away and then reach for the new?.. Is it time for you to "cast away" and embrace a change of season? These are tough moments but we can´t enjoy the new season if we don´t allow the old season to pass.

For me it´s a time of embracing a new season... scary,new, and uncharted territory which inspires in me both fear and excitement all at the same time!