Time

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace."
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV)

Life is not always about absolutes or ideals. Sometimes actions may be right or wrong in differing circumstances. Reducing the complexity of the world's intricacies is dangerous when done blindly. It takes discernment to be able to decide what to do when formulas no longer apply.

Society is kinda at odds with the poetry above. We all live by the mantra that war is always bad and that casting away, mourning and breaking down are intrinsically evil. None of us are immune, conflict is out and passivity is seen as the 'more excellent way'. There no longer exists the option of 'tough love'.

Why can't we be comfortable enough to embrace conflict as a sometimes necessary way of refinement? Why can't we endorse that sometimes refraining from something can be to our advantage? Have we become so self-indulgent that we can no longer hear the word "No"?

It's amazing the solace you find when you can embrace the change of seasons and be content with the negative actions sometimes demanded of us.

Cos eventually all things come around. After the mourning comes the laughter, after the war comes the peace.

Life may be frustrated, but that's cos it's heading somewhere better.