This Stuff Is for the Byrds

Posted by Bill Hunton on Jun 11, 2010 in Daily Bread | 0 comments

Classic Rock is the best Rock! I grew up in the 60′s and remember it. Besides the Beatles, one of my favorite bands is the Byrds. I never tire of “Turn, Turn, Turn.” It is actually a folk song written by Pete Seeger in 1959. “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under Heaven.” It is straight from the Ecclesiastes, all but the last phrase and a little artistic license.

Gayle and I are going through a season of change now. I felt the winds shift a few months ago. Some call it “the empty nest,” but there’s more to it than kids leaving home (which can be fun).

Yes, our youngest graduated and left for a short term mission this summer. The middle daughter will have her degree, and marriage will be upon us in the next two years. The older two kids have established careers. They will come and go, and maybe with grandchildren.

Along with those separations, which are good, Gayle lost one of her closest friends this week. We’ll not see her again until later. A few weeks ago, we attended the funeral for the mother of one of the “girls” I sang with decades ago. People die and our hearts grieve regardless how strong our faith.

If that were not enough there are the painfully obvious and not so obvious changes I see in myself. I can’t run as far or jump as high. Thank God my mind is still sharp, so I can compete at work with kids a third my age. The changes press upon me relentlessly, and I cannot just watch from the sidelines.

Yet the song and the Psalmist say that with the time, there is a season for every purpose under heaven. I know that it is God’s perfect timing that has brought me to this specific time and season of life. I can be no other person than myself, and I am here now to love the people he has placed near me.

Thank God that there is a time to rend, a time to love, and a time for peace.