Title
Garments and Rags
Scripture
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven
(Ecclesiastes 3:1&7a)
Devotional
Some commentators say that this text is in reference to mourning (tearing one's clothes) relating to the mourning in verse 4. Matthew Henry says that the sewing is in reference to our time together in the hereafter. With due respect to these, I see it in a simpler form. There is a time to put things together and a time to pull things apart. From fighting children to quarreling adults, there is a time to tear and a time to sew. Every parent of multiple children has had to pull them apart and deal with their difference (a time to tear). Likewise every couple has had to come together after an argument of disagreement (a time to sew). Knowing when to pull things apart and put them together is again, the simplicity of Solomon's wisdom. From the mending of clothes to the making of rags knowing when to tear and when to sew can make life wearable.