For every season....

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking about the reason for certain things.  I am firm believer that everything happens for a reason, even the smallest littlest things that you think may not have an effect on your future.  I have looked at the past decade of my life and I have done some amazing things and each one of them had a reason.

I have lived in a eight different states in my life.  Each one had a different impact on my life and the direction it has gone in.  I have lived places that I never thought I would and have done things that I look back and am thankful I have had them.  There are experiences that when I look back in my old age, I can say "I had an amazing life". 

I have lived in a converted chicken coop for six months in Northern Arizona with no internet and barely any cable channels.  I explored every weekend and loved every minute of it.  I have seen things there and learned things that I still carry with me.  I lived on the Atlantic ocean for a year and was able to explore the Caribbean islands.  I snorkeled with some beautiful fish, ate some amazing food and rang in my 25th birthday in the middle of the ocean on a cruise ship.  I went to Key West and saw Hemingway's house, ate key lime pie and stood at the southernmost point in the United States.  I had an amazing trip with my mom to Disneyworld which is amazing as a kid but even better as an adult.  I lived 45 minutes from New York City and finally walked where my Great-Grandparents walked on Ellis Island when they came to this country.  I saw Philadelphia.  I have climbed two 14ers, ran countless half marathons, tent camped for the first time and fell in love. 

All of these have been some amazing experiences in my life and not a full list of them either! It would take forever to list them all.  But in all the places I have lived and all the experiences I have had, they happened for a reason.  Together, they made me the person I am today and brought me to the place I am now.  People have passed into my life and back out and the special few have stuck around.  I am thankful for those.  Those that have left my life have given me lessons that I have taken into the future and things that I just want to forget. 

Through all of this, I remember this from the bible:

Ecclesiastes 3

 

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity 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.

 

This verse helps me remember there is a time and a reason for everything under the sun. I know that everything that I go through has a reason, good or bad.  I may not learn the lesson from it right away but it may pop up later in life on why I went through it.  So with this in mind I move forward into a place of goodness. 

 

There is a time for everything! <3