Everything is Beautiful in it's Own Time.

At the beginning of the month, in my Bible reading, I read Ecclesiastes 3:11 which says, "God has made everything beautiful for it's own time." This verse has stuck with me all month long. I think it is such an affirming reminder to trust God and hold on for what he has in store. A wonderful visible example of this verse in action are lightning bugs.

📷​​SMLXL 📷

One night, several weeks ago, on the way home from an evening track practice (literally on the sidewalk walking up to our front door) I was admiring all the lightning bugs lighting up different parts of our yard in the darkness. I said to my Mom, "I wonder what lightning bugs do in the daytime" then, before she could answer, or maybe she did answer but I wasn't paying attention, I answered myself. I said something along the lines of, "I guess there just normal flies in the day. Wouldn't it be awful to kill a lightning bug during the day thinking it was a normal fly but realize later it was a lightning bug?" I mean I'd feel bad, I wouldn't want to kill a lightning bug because they are so cool! The little creatures go from ordinary to anything but ordinary as the sun sets. God makes them beautiful for their own time.

When I made the connection of what I was saying and seeing back to what I had read in Ecclesiastes 3:11 I had such a "woah!" moment I got so excited! Just think, if God makes the small insignificant fireflies beautiful in their own time, at JUST the right time (at night) to be noticed and appriciated, don't you think he can do the same for you?

You will have your own time to shine. In the daytime fireflies are over looked and deemed insignificant. Maybe that's how you feel (insignificant and overlooked by everyone.) I can tell you, you are not. You are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God and he loves you. God may be keeping you from what you've been hoping and praying for because right now is not the right time for you to shine. Out of love he may be keeping you away from what you desire. Just like killing a lightning bug in the day before you could see what its purpose was, wouldn't it stink to give up on your dreams in the same manner? Don't give up on something before the harvest. Don't give up just because you can't see the light shinning. I know it's sometimes so hard to see how anything in life is working out for good to form something beautiful. But know that God truly makes everything beautiful for their own time in his perfect timing. I want to tie up the ends of this blog post with Proverbs 3:5-6 which says, "Trust in the LORD with ALL your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in ALL your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."