“a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance”

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;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to b r e a k d o w n, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast----- away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to keep, and a time to cast------- away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.
                                                       -Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (For my dear Chellie)

He makes beautiful things; He makes beautiful things out of the dust.

the world is speeding and I’m stuck, struck to my knees; face to the floor;  out from the hollow earth, the rusting of metal- the key to these doors;
it’s all I can do to stay where I am; progress to the frame, open me up
maybe it’s the joy I’m finding in hurt, the pain that’s teaching me how to love,
because my arms are stretched to the sky, Your name is on my mouth-
staining the air, wrapping up the staleness of misplaced doubt;
if those doors are what let everyone leave,
open them up— so I know it’s still me.

May we feel the draft of open doors; may we let people inside when they knock; may we close it gently after them when they leave, and wave from the window; may we trust that disconnecting a lock, or two, or all of them, doesn’t mean something will be stolen; sometimes strangers leave treasure behind. 
May we feel the weight of someone’s presence there; may we laugh in good memory, and cry when it hurts, cry for the things that are stolen in trust, but rejoice for the things that are restored in love.
May we find the strength to remember and save the things we learn when, all in His timing, He opens the doors. 

“But when two paths cross, no matter how brief
There's a lesson somewhere to be learned
It may be just that we're on the wrong path
and there's a corner that needs to be turned

It may be to teach us that we can still fly
and soar in the heavens above
or it may be a brief and torrid affair
to show us that we can still love.”
                   - Hawkins