A Time To Rend And A Time To Sew

SUN., JULY 18, 1982, 5:37 AM
FARM, STUDY

In this earth world there is a time for opposites. You are seeing the colors of dawn in the sky now, but just a few hours ago it was a time of darkness. Soon it will be time for the brightness and hotness of noon… but then there will be a time when the noon is cold and rainy, dark and dreary. Opposites complement each other and give a rhythm to life. It is not that one needs to conquer and supplant the other. Rather, there is a time to… and then a time to…

This one says that there is a time to rend and then a time to sew… a statement of several meanings. First, let’s consider the most obvious and direct one, which comes from the need for clothing. Most human beings need or feel that they need to wear clothes. I must say that this is a relative need that has been developed to a rather ridiculous extreme. High fashion and new, unique dress is one of the obvious manifestations of selfishness and egoism. This is not inevitable, but it can be avoided only with some directed effort. A bit of a diatribic digression!

Clothing does wear out, or does develop some “imperfections”. Then it must be decided whether it is a time to rend or a time to sew. Now note that this is not exactly the same as “a time to keep and a time to cast away”. This says there is a time to repair clothing and keep it usable… and then there is a time to rend the garment, tearing it so that it is no longer a garment, but can still function as a rag. Its function as a fashionable shirt is no more, but it may function as a lowly but “effective” rag for cleaning, wiping, mopping.

Note that clothing may be sewn… repaired… and then cast away for another to wear. This is different from rending in the larger sense, even though it may not be for the wearer. It is good that clothing be used until it clearly is a time to rend, but this is a value more in evidence in the poorer rather in the more affluent countries in the earth.

Now in a larger sense this says, in a different way, that there is a time for newness and a time for the maintenance of the old and the time-tested… the traditional. This is an essential rhythm, even in the spiritual realm. There is a time to hold to the Holy Scriptures, as written so long ago. And then it is a time to listen to My voice now in 1982 and accept that I may have some new things to say… or some new ways of saying… or some comments on new developments in the earth. There is a time for you to read and study Scripture (yes, there is!) and then a time to study these many and diverse teachings that I have given to you. There is a time for others to hear old, often-repeated truths of Christian life… and then a time to hear of new interpretations of justice and mercy… of “standards” and of grace.

This statement also implies that there is a time for careful, quiet reparative work, and then a time for careless, rambunctious ripping up, like unto “a time to build up and a time to break down”. But the one We’re talking about infers that the spirit of the behavior should be different. When it is time to rend, do so with vigor. Do not do everything in quiet, efficient style. Vary the way you do the work and the play you do. Sometimes quietly sew and sometimes boisterously rend. (And I’m sure you understand that the extremes are not dichotomies; there are times of the “golden mean” and positions and behaviors down from the extremes, but none of these is “perfect”. There is always time for another.)

So, returning to the mundane and practical, consider your clothing from time to time. Do repairs when there is still important value and wear remaining. But also know that there may be a time to rend, so that the cloth has another function, though its use as a garment has faded.

Just be aware. And appreciate. A time to…

6:41 AM
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