There is a time for everything,
a season for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to rebuild.
4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
6 A time to search and a time to lose.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak up.
8 A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
What do people really get for all their hard work?
10 I have thought about this in connection with the various kinds of work God has given people to do.
11 God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
12 So I concluded that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to enjoy themselves as long as they can.
13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
14 And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose in this is that people should fear him.
15 Whatever exists today and whatever will exist in the future has already existed in the past. For God calls each event back in its turn.
The Injustices of Life
16 I also noticed that throughout the world there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt!
17 I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.”
18 Then I realized that God allows people to continue in their sinful ways so he can test them. That way, they can see for themselves that they are no better than animals.
19 For humans and animals both breathe the same air, and both die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless!
20 Both go to the same place–the dust from which they came and to which they must return.
21 For who can prove that the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward into the earth?
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is why they are here! No one will bring them back from death to enjoy life in the future.
Ecclesiastes 3
37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ Matthew 25:37-40
Go under the mercy.
Published 3 years, 6 months ago
Search
Subscribe 
You are currently browsing the Bene Diction Blogs On weblog archives.
Related Entries
For blog design, Wordpress or MovableType coding or blog consulting, see cre8d design.
Hope that 2005 brings you joy and peace BD.
One of your best post Benne…. I love it. Thanks man and Happy New Year.
And a Happy New Year to you too.
In times of loss and suffering, such as this, people seek meaning in the roots of their faith. Maybe now is a good time to rise above some of the sectarianism:
Upon hearing that anyone has lost his or her life, Muslims recite the short statement, “from Almighty God we come and to Him is our return.”
Catholic Christians pray, “Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”
Jews and Christians know from Ecclesiastes 12.7 “The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
Hinduism says, “As a man passes from dream to wakefulness, so does he pass at death from this life to the next.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.3.11-14, 35).
Buddhists have peace in the knowledge that “Man’s real nature is primarily spiritual life, which weaves its threads of mind to build a cocoon of flesh, encloses its own soul in the cocoon….Just as the silkworm will break out of its cocoon and fly free, so too, will man break out of his body-cocoon and ascend to the spiritual world when his time is come. Never think that the death of the physical body is the death of man. Since man is life, he will never know death. (Seicho-no-ie. Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines.)
Let us pray in the tradition of our faiths — together — as God’s family, to assist those transitioning to the spiritual realms and those dealing with the traumas of lives forever changed. And let us move forward together as one family.
[From prayers compiled by the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace, c/o Frank Kaufmann: world_prayer@myway.com]
Thank you for this.
Happy New Year, Bene… This is powerful.