The Bible uses some powerful analogous words to define the nature of our relationship to God:
Son/Daughter/Child to Father/Lifegiver/Papa
Wife/Bride to Husband/Bridegroom
People/Nation to King/Ruler/Lawgiver/Sovereign
Sinners/Defendants to Judge
Brothers/Sisters/Co-Inheritors to Christ
Young vulnerable Chicks to Caring Mother Hen
Soldiers to Commander
Priests/Saints to High Priest to God Almighty
Slaves to Master
Students to Teacher
Tradesmen/Bankers to Investors
Flesh to Spirit
Human to Divine
All of these comparisons seem to invoke many facets of the total scope of our relationship to God. He is all-inclusive in every aspect of our lives. He is the author of the very love we can feel and share to others and give back to him. Without God as the focal point and source of all that is, and the source of the highest possible love on a plane that transcends feeble human pondering, then we are reduced to being a mere product of blind chance development. Without God, the meaning and spirituality and depth of life seems to be limited to the vain and pointlessness of a few years of life before we pass into nothingness.
All my life I have been more than well aware and appreciative of our relationship with God, and in-spite of the limits created by the JW religion, I was able to stay close to God in ways that exceed mere sectarian teachings of the Watch Tower.
It is this intimacy, this love for God, this yearning to have the closest possible relationship with God that has driven me recently to do as suggested in these verses from Eccl 3:1-8: I would like to make some specific application here:
For everything there is a season, and a time for very purpose under heaven:
This is the time and season in my life where I must go through some changes.
a time to be born, and a time to die;
I am looking for some level of rebirth as a Christian
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
This is my time to pluck up much of what I have planted, before I can plant again
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
I must finish the process of killing off that which is not of God, and heal what remains
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
I must breakdown my long held beliefs to see that which is truly spiritual Gold, and build again on this.
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
I have wept enough over that which I had to let go of, and I am looking to laugh again.
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
My morning ended sometime ago, but I have yet to dance.
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
I have been casting away stones for 9 years, unloading a lot of baggage. I now want to gather again stones of spiritual Gold.
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
I have refrained from embracing for the same 9 years, and look to embrace once again.
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
I have been letting go of and losing that which seems like straw, and I am now seeking refined spiritual Gold.
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
I have been casting away many notions and views and beliefs for years, and now I wish to see what is left that I should keep, and build upon once again.
a time to rend, and a time to sew;
I rend my life as a Catholic, and then a JW, and now I seek to sew with God and Christ.
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
I have been in silence a long time, and now I choose to speak so that I may seek and ask that I may find and be answered.
a time to love, and a time to hate;
I am exposing the last vestiges of hate in my heart as an act of confession, that I may fill it again with nothing but the Love of Christ.
a time for war, and a time for peace.
I have been in a spiritual war for years, and now I seek peace.
While I have been posting tough questions and raising issues, it is not to whine or complain or be negative or offend -- rather -- it is to share what I am going through so that if any have something they feel is important to share back, I may find wisdom and truth, and draw upon your humanity and your divinity. As I look for God again, I do find that he is present in many around me. And the meaning of Jesus words that the way we treat others, his brothers and sisters, is how we treat God himself. - Amazing