Heal: Five Minute Friday

Five Minute Friday. I missed it last week. The prompt was 'Path'. I was helping another teacher prepare her classroom for the school year. I spent some hours Thursday painting in her classroom. I also painted some on Friday while my girls watched a movie. I spent more hours Monday painting in her classroom until it was finished.  Here's Kate's Linkup!!

This week's prompt is "heal".

Go.

The first passage that came to mind was Ecclesiastes 3.
"For everything there is a season,
    a time for every activity under heaven.
² A time to be born and a time to die.
    A time to plant and a time to harvest.
³ A time to kill and a time to heal.
    A time to tear down and a time to build up.
⁴ A time to cry and a time to laugh.
    A time to grieve and a time to dance.
⁵ A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
    A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
⁶ A time to search and a time to quit searching.
    A time to keep and a time to throw away.
⁷ A time to tear and a time to mend.
    A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
⁸ A time to love and a time to hate.
    A time for war and a time for peace."

But opposite a time to heal? A time to kill.

So that's where I'm going. I don't like to kill. I really lack that drive. Unless it's insects. Or poisonous spiders. But up the ante to small rodents? I cringe. I did finish off a mouse for my cat one time and then burst into tears.
My husband is trying to trap a raccoon in our backyard. It's leaving its waste in a pile. I want to 'catch and release'. He was willing to sit up late with a rifle.
We've done neither because apparently it's illegal in our state to do either without a permit.

When his 17 year old cat was internally dying, to put it nicely, he decided to take the cat out and finish the process himself.

He has a strength I don't have. To end suffering is a passion of mine, but I am interested in healing to end suffering. Sometimes to end suffering, death must happen.

In my own life? It's time to kill pride. Time to kill selfishness. Time to kill the thought that I'm able to do things on my own without God. And really? That kind of killing will bring healing and end suffering in a power that I'd never possess on my own.

What else needs to die so that life can come forth? Plants die so animals can live. Animals die so humans can live. Humans die and are buried and plants live off that, right? Plants also die for our consumption.

Ultimately, the time to kill came for the Roman soldiers that nailed Jesus to the cross. And that killing led to the ultimate healing for all eternity.
A time to die will come, and in reflection of that, let us make the most of this time to live we are in.

 (Kari Jobe- Healer)

Love,
Tammy