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THERE IS A TIME TO...
'There is a time for everything ... a time to weep and a time to laugh' Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
Nelson Mandela was president of South Africa from 1994-99. Years before, he had been an activist against apartheid (a government policy that favoured the rights of white people over black). For this he was sentenced to life imprisonment. After serving twenty-seven years he was finally released and played a significant part in changing South Africa's inequality and poverty.
Recalling his highs and lows he once said this, 'I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one finds many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.'
Nelson Mandela realised that to change the world for the better you have to accept the smooth with the rough. You have to be prepared to weep and to laugh. You have to accept that there will always be another hill to conquer. For, 'There is a time to be silent and a time to speak. There is a time to love and a time to hate. There is a time for war and a time for peace' (Ecclesiastes 3: 7,8 NCV).
What now? Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-13. Write out an example of when you have experienced each of the times described there. Now think through those times with the knowledge that God has been with you through them all.
written by Bob Gass
'There is a time for everything ... a time to weep and a time to laugh' Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
Nelson Mandela was president of South Africa from 1994-99. Years before, he had been an activist against apartheid (a government policy that favoured the rights of white people over black). For this he was sentenced to life imprisonment. After serving twenty-seven years he was finally released and played a significant part in changing South Africa's inequality and poverty.
Recalling his highs and lows he once said this, 'I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one finds many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.'
Nelson Mandela realised that to change the world for the better you have to accept the smooth with the rough. You have to be prepared to weep and to laugh. You have to accept that there will always be another hill to conquer. For, 'There is a time to be silent and a time to speak. There is a time to love and a time to hate. There is a time for war and a time for peace' (Ecclesiastes 3: 7,8 NCV).
What now? Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-13. Write out an example of when you have experienced each of the times described there. Now think through those times with the knowledge that God has been with you through them all.
written by Bob Gass
