The changing of the seasons is a beautiful time to reflect on God’s creative plan and the ways in which He formed nature to be a sustaining, cyclical part of our lives. When one season ends and another begins, we often take notice of the passing of time and contemplate the events that have passed since the weather last changed in its pattern. During a collaborative worship time together recently, students in the preschool- third grade classes considered the ways that God demonstrates through His creation that there is a time for every purpose (using Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8). In response to this discussion, children created a large drawing to display some of their thoughts about the changing seasons and other images that came to mind through the scripture. Please take a moment to enjoy these collaborative artworks, hanging on the back wall of the Gathering Room. Also, I recommend that you take a moment to talk with your child about the seasons and God’s timing. A few guiding questions are listed below; we will be asking similar questions in the classroom on Sundays as we draw nearer to the Advent season.
There is a time for everything, and a season for every purpose under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent 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
*Now I wonder why God decided that there should be a special time for everything?
*I wonder how God shows us that it is the right time for something to happen?
*I wonder if you have ever realized that it wasn’t the right time for something to happen? I wonder if you have ever realized that it was the right time for something to happen?
*I wonder what the Bible means when it says, “a time to keep and a time to throw away”? Is it just talking about trash? What is God really trying to share with us?
*I wonder what the most interesting part of the changing seasons is for you?
