Daily Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season,
a right time for every intention under heaven —
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to discard,
7 a time to tear and a time to sew,
a time to keep silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Reflection Questions:The movie Inside Out starts with the question, “Do you ever look at someone and wonder, ‘What is going on inside their head?’" The sages of ancient Hebrew wisdom didn’t have all of our modern psychological vocabulary and tools for understanding. But they knew a couple of things clearly: first, there’s a lot going inside each of our heads. And second, there is a time in the course of life for all our feelings.
- Many of u.s grew up in families in which certain feelings were never acceptable. Often our school or work settings give the same message. Ecclesiastes 3, on the other hand, listed 14 pairs of feelings or actions (a multiple of 7, the Hebrew number of completeness), and said there is a time for all of them. Do you tend to think of your feelings as “good” and “bad”? What if the feelings themselves are simply realities that happen, but you can understand and deal with them in healthy or unhealthy ways?
- Verse 4 said, “[There is] a time for crying and a time for laughing.” In Inside Out, “Joy” spent much of the first part of the film trying to keep “Sadness” from touching or shaping Riley’s life at all. But near the end, as Riley set out to run away, Joy tugged Sadness to the control panel. Sadness said, “I can’t,” but Joy replied, “Yes, you can. Riley needs you.” As the girl realized the sadness of missing her family, she cried out, “Stop! I want to get off.” When has sadness served a positive function in your life?
Today’s Prayer:
Lord, there is a season for everything, in large measure because you are a part of all the seasons and experiences of my life. Walk with me through whatever comes my way. Amen.Insights from Melanie Hill
Lord, there is a season for everything, in large measure because you are a part of all the seasons and experiences of my life. Walk with me through whatever comes my way. Amen.Insights from Melanie Hill
Melanie Hill is the Guest Connections Program Director at Resurrection.
Ever have one of those moments when the world seems to be totally turned upside down? I had one of those this past week. I married an amazingly easy going, introspective man. Where I tend to process everything I am thinking and feeling out loud, my husband processes internally. Where I get fired up easily, he stays calm and, dare I say, rational? For the longest time I wished that I could respond the way he does. Instead I saw myself as too emotional, always feeling things too deeply. Then this week the tables turned. A situation arose that had my husband living in the land of “too emotional,” and I found myself in the role of calm (and maybe even a little rational). This role reversal changed my whole thinking on the idea of being “too emotional.” As I watched my husband process his feelings, I wasn’t annoyed by his show of emotion. On the contrary, I was able to be in the moment with him.
I don’t believe there is any such thing as being “too emotional.” The ability to feel things deeply is a gift. And whether you are someone like me who likes to wear your feelings on your t-shirt or someone more like my husband who likes to keep them closer to the vest, our feelings are a gift from God. Our feelings of sadness and anguish over children being hurt move us to action. Our feelings of anger over injustice in our world move us to make it a better place. Passion lives in our feelings. And it is often passion that leads us to make the biggest decisions in our life, both good and bad.
With every gift comes a responsibility to use it well. While we can’t control the ways we feel, we can control how we respond to them. I always have to be careful not to confuse feelings with facts. And just because I feel something deeply doesn’t make it rational. The first time I was ever asked to speak in a church setting was to a group of middle school students after a pool party. As I prepared to share a short talk with them I was so afraid. While I felt fairly certain that they weren’t going to rise up in mass and toss me in the pool if they didn’t like what I had to say, that didn’t change the way I felt. I could have let my fear stop me from giving the talk, but then I would have missed out on all the ways God chose to use that moment both in my life and the lives of the students.
Embrace your emotions like the gift they are. Like all things in God’s creation, they are varied and wonderful. While we may not always understand them, and they may not always make sense, it is always okay to feel them. And that is a great gift.
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Ever have one of those moments when the world seems to be totally turned upside down? I had one of those this past week. I married an amazingly easy going, introspective man. Where I tend to process everything I am thinking and feeling out loud, my husband processes internally. Where I get fired up easily, he stays calm and, dare I say, rational? For the longest time I wished that I could respond the way he does. Instead I saw myself as too emotional, always feeling things too deeply. Then this week the tables turned. A situation arose that had my husband living in the land of “too emotional,” and I found myself in the role of calm (and maybe even a little rational). This role reversal changed my whole thinking on the idea of being “too emotional.” As I watched my husband process his feelings, I wasn’t annoyed by his show of emotion. On the contrary, I was able to be in the moment with him.
I don’t believe there is any such thing as being “too emotional.” The ability to feel things deeply is a gift. And whether you are someone like me who likes to wear your feelings on your t-shirt or someone more like my husband who likes to keep them closer to the vest, our feelings are a gift from God. Our feelings of sadness and anguish over children being hurt move us to action. Our feelings of anger over injustice in our world move us to make it a better place. Passion lives in our feelings. And it is often passion that leads us to make the biggest decisions in our life, both good and bad.
With every gift comes a responsibility to use it well. While we can’t control the ways we feel, we can control how we respond to them. I always have to be careful not to confuse feelings with facts. And just because I feel something deeply doesn’t make it rational. The first time I was ever asked to speak in a church setting was to a group of middle school students after a pool party. As I prepared to share a short talk with them I was so afraid. While I felt fairly certain that they weren’t going to rise up in mass and toss me in the pool if they didn’t like what I had to say, that didn’t change the way I felt. I could have let my fear stop me from giving the talk, but then I would have missed out on all the ways God chose to use that moment both in my life and the lives of the students.
Embrace your emotions like the gift they are. Like all things in God’s creation, they are varied and wonderful. While we may not always understand them, and they may not always make sense, it is always okay to feel them. And that is a great gift.
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
913.897.0120
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