After this poem, we are treated to an intriguing verse. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

Many interpret this as if it’s an altogether positive statement, sort of a celebration of each season. I think the Quester is doing something different there.

He tells us there is order in the world, but it is not an order we can easily perceive. Though we think we can predict the seasons, many things are outside our control. Yes, I am confident that we will get a bit of snow in January and that the rainy season is in the spring. But nothing prepared me for a flooded crawlspace at Christmas when the temperature shot up to 70 degrees (in Southwest Missouri) and we had a downpour of rain. We’re not in control of the seasons.

And this bit about putting eternity in our hearts doesn’t mean we are longing for eternity (though that is certainly true). Rather, it means that God has made us meaning-makers. And that is frustrating in such an unpredictable world. Everything is beautiful in its time, but we aren’t smart enough to know what time it is. It’s like what Andy Bernard said in The Office: “I wish we could know we were living in the good times when we were living in them.”

Ecclesiastes is telling us that we are all in a particular season now. It is a time fitting for something. Do you know what it is? Do you know how to utilize it for the glory of God? Probably only a little. It can be confusing because some parts of your life are given to weeping and others to laughter.

‌What are we to do with this tension? Ecclesiastes offers us a simple answer: make the most of the moment. Rather than becoming paralyzed by the mysteries of life, we are called to embrace each moment as a gift from God. Be joyful, do good, and find pleasure in the work and experience you’ve been given. Life is fleeting, seasons change, but God is eternal and never changes. Because of this, we can entrust ourselves to Him and live fully.

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