the circle of life

Ecclesiastes 3 - A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

I was awoken at 6am (Sunday) by a phone call from the maternity ward for a delivery, and dopey-eyed, I washed up quickly and made my way up to the ward. The delivery went really well, although it was the first delivery I've been to where an epidural wasn't given - let's just say it is times like these that I am grateful for being a male! The baby was healthy and mom was doing fairly well. Birth - the start of a new life is always such an incredible experience.

Afterwards, I went to the ward to check up on some of our patients and found out that one of them, an older gentleman I had been following, had passed away this very same morning at about the same time I was assisting with the delivery. It was really sad because we were hoping he would recover sufficiently from his illness to go home. But it didn't happen. Death is an ever sobering reminder that life is short and that our time here on earth is limited. A reminder to live wisely, love God, cherish loved ones, and make the most of all your opportunities to experience all the world has to offer.

And such is the circle of life - a time for life and new birth, and a time for death and leaving this world. It stops for no man and rolls on inexorably for time infinitum.