A Time to Be Gracious

A Time to Be Gracious
Sunday, March 29, 2026 by Cindy Sproles

Categories: Inspiration

If you’re a baby boomer, you’ll remember The Byrds. If you’re a Bible-reading Christian, you’ll remember Ecclesiastes 3. What a comparison, heh? I sorta worried about copyright infringement when I thought about using this particular set of words, and then I realized, I’m not infringing on God. He had the words first before He handed them down to the Psalmist, who then allowed songwriter Pete Seeger to use the words for a song he wrote using God’s Word in 1958ish…who eventually worked its way to The Byrds, who recorded it in the 60s and had millions of folks hear it. Can we see just how God uses odds and ends to spread His Word? That said, copyright infringement went out the door since God allows us to share HIS words freely. So, read the words of the Psalmist from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV):

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    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 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 from embracing,
    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.

I guess you wonder why, by this time, I had you read that. It’s not unusual for me to chuckle when I read Ecclesiastes 3. It’s easy to chuckle over. I mean, when the book opens, the Psalmist is whining, “Meaningless, meaningless…” I’ve often teased that the writer needed a stiff dose of Prozac. How depressing can you be?

BUT, then I studied Ecclesiastes. I mean…really studied it, and I learned something meaningFUL. That there is nothing worth a flip without Christ. Wow. (slap to the forehead). Truth be known, I already knew that, but I never really understood what the Psalmist was getting at.

Through the years, theologians have debated who actually penned the book of Ecclesiastes. I just wanted to know who came up with the spelling of Ecclesiastes? But I digress. Many give credit to King Solomon, while others say it was probably written by a teacher of the time. I’m not sure it really matters in the greater scheme of things since we know all scripture is God-breathed. Anywho, let’s face it. At first read, Ecclesiastes comes across as sadly depressing and hopeless.

You know me. I’m always looking for the life lessons that God is giving me and so, I suppose I need to be fully honest here. It’s been a rough five years. I mean, Tim ended up with cancer, then with surgery and gifted doctors, he was healed. Covid hit, life came to a screeching halt. I retired in 2020 after 21 years in the eldercare business with not one but three dear, dear people I grew to love immensely. My writing career was taking root (that was a good thing), then the Prince decided he might ought to look death in the face not once but twice more —because, even if they can fix cancer by some chance, the trade-off can often be equally as harsh. Even with good things sprinkled into the hard, I found myself slipping into a crisis of faith. Now, don’t panic, I never decided I didn’t believe. Heavenly day, NO! But, I did find myself searching, trying to understand exactly what God was doing in my life. And when I couldn’t figure it out, I began to see what the Psalmist of Ecclesiastes was getting at. It all seemed meaningless.

My prayers became simpler—“God, help me understand this confusion.” And through that prayer, God began to work a greater thing in me. We know that His timing is nothing like we think it should be, but it is most certainly perfect. Even if I wished it would have hurried along. Five years is a long time and well…I’m still seeking. Though I’ve learned that seeking is exactly the right place God prefers I be.

Still, me being me, I asked continually, what, when, why and where? And God, whispered, “Wait.”

Aarrggh. Who likes to wait? Since I don’t have the ability to skirt through time like God, my only choice was to do just that—wait.

God taught me a few pretty good life lessons. Things that I could drop into a novel that would hopefully help others see His way is best, even when it’s hard. But like I said, I’m still seeking Him, still learning, still trying to figure out what His plan is for me.

That said, sleep comes and goes. Sometimes I sleep in my bed, and other times, I pace the hallway, eventually ending up on the couch. If you aren’t one who doesn’t miss sleep, then you need to know that when you don’t sleep, you get tired. When you’re tired, you get sluggish. When you get sluggish, you get frustrated. And when you get frustrated, you get a teensy bit cranky. I’ve been all those over the last five years. No pun intended, but I’m tired of being tired. I want to go to bed and sleep a full seven hours. Oh, my. Rabbit trail.

Okay, back to the point and the life lesson. I’m still waiting for it. (You thought there’d be a quick answer, didn’t you? Welcome to my world.)

So, on to the next kick in the shins. I don’t know if you’re an animal lover, but I am. Always have been, and I suppose, I always will be. After 18 years working as a vet technician, asthma shoved me out the clinic door, never to return again to the one job I really loved.

Anyway, our pets began growing old, and with age comes illness, and then loss. Though I was brokenhearted when our pets died, I could live with it because, well…it’s the circle of life. Our family was down to two pets: our Yorkie mix, Daisy, who was 9, and our cat, Dobby, who was 10.

On March 20, 2026, the Prince let Daisy outside in our back yard. Now, our yard is fenced solely to keep our pets safe. When we moved into this house 40 years ago, our boys were 3 and 4 years old. We immediately fenced the yard to not only protect our pets but to put a barrier up that would offer some protection to little boys who loved to romp and play outside. Daisy was outside for maybe five minutes when Chase hollered and told Tim, “Something’s going on outside.” Chase opened the door, and Daisy hobbled in. Tim looked at her and yelled, “I think she’s injured.” That kicked me into action. When I knelt down to her kennel, blood poured from her mouth. She was blue and gasping. We rushed her to the closest vet, but to no avail. Daisy died.

Now, I said earlier, our pets were older and losing them to age and illness is, though hard, a bit easier than what happened on March 20. A Pitt Bull yanked its owner down, broke her glasses, and scratched her up, but that tank of an animal plowed under our chain link fence and in one snap, crushed Daisy’s lungs.

I wasn’t good with loosing Daisy like that. In fact, a week and three days later, I still can’t get the picture out of my head. Where’s the life lesson, God? I’m waiting. And honestly, I’ll continue to wait because this was senseless.

I don’t want mail about how Pitts are horrible and that you hope the owners are sued. Stop before you start, because these owners were good pet owners. The dog was never turned out to roam the streets. It was always walked on a leash. This was a terrible accident.

I’ve always been of the school of thought that dogs are what their owners make them and I do still believe that, but there are some dogs that bear the burden of blood sport. They were bred to kill, and for every wonderful Pitty out there, I would say, you are fortunate that the switch has never been flipped to cause this instinct to kick in. I pray it never happens to you.

These owners surrendered that dog to animal control by their own choice, knowing that once that instinct kicked in, it would never UNflip. They paid our vet bill, too. We didn’t, and wouldn’t, have asked them to do what they did to try to make things as right as possible. Their actions were completely their own choice.

So, here, I think, is the life lesson. Gracious is the Lord, God Almighty. I think of the Nazirite blessing in Numbers 6:21-29 (NIV):

“The Lord bless you and keep you;

The Lord make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you

and give you peace.”

It’s hard to be gracious when you hurt, suffer loss, even grow angry. Gracious is something God shows us peons all the time. Who are we to be anything other than this?

My heart is broken. But so is the heart of the family who also lost their pet. This was a lose-lose situation. It was a terrible accident. And yet, through our loss of the sweetest little pup friend in the world, God continues to whisper, “Be gracious for you had her for a time and the time she was yours, she brought you joy. She brought you healing.” And then I saw it.

The life lesson. The one that showed me, just how God got inside our lives and slogged through our muddy mess to give us a symbol of His unconditional love. He allowed us to see through Daisy, faithfulness, laughter, comfort, and deep abiding love. And now, through her loss, we are learning to be gracious.

I have a hard time talking about little Daisy right now. Writing, this gift from God, allows me to pen the sadness. I wrapped my arms around the owner, and we both cried. Graciousness has many meanings—compassion, forgiveness, understanding, even kindness. This is a hard life lesson. One that’s gonna take a spell as we say in the mountains.

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens:

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 to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance…

How do you say thank you to a companion, a friend, a pet who has loved you like only God can love you? I can only agree with Billy Graham who said:

“God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness in heaven, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he’ll be there.”

This is what I think too.

To Daisy – May the grass smell its sweetest, and the breeze brush your fur in the gentlest of ways as you play in the green fields of heaven. We will always love you. May your soul rest sweetly in the arms of the Creator and King of Kings. I feel sure when He pats your head, that you will hear the words we all hope to hear…

“Well done, good and faithful servant.”

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