***
“There is an appointed time for everything,” we hear in our first reading from Ecclesiastes.
“A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
We might add today, “A time to be close, and a time to quarantine; a time to go to school and a time to learn online; a time to be employed and a time to be unemployed; a time to be united and a time to be divided.”
There are many times – or seasons – in life.
If COVID’s taught us anything, it’s how little control we have over them.
The challenge is finding something beautiful in every season, particularly in the present moment because it’s all we have.
***
How can we see something beautiful in America today?
Millions are awakening to a life very different from the one they knew, whether they’ve lost everything to wildfires, floods, or COVID.
For them – and maybe for us – it’s a bitter season.
So, where’s the beauty?
***
Consider the hands of doctors and nurses caring for the sick; the scientists searching for a vaccine; the fourteen-hour days of firefighters saving lives and homes that are not their own; the volunteers organizing post-flood disaster relief.
And all the good we do for others – gestures that often go unnoticed.
***
In every season of life, there’s beauty to be found. There are good people doing good things, including us.
What, then, might we do for a neighbor in need today?
***
Even the smallest gesture of kindness can make a bitter season a little sweeter.
