Ecclesiastes 9.7-9 7
Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for
God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always
anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the
days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your
meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under
the sun. – The Preacher
Unless we’re careful we might be fooled by the Preacher’s
tone: meaningless, meaningless, all is meaningless! (Cf. Ecc. 1.2) It would
seem, at face value, the Preacher is frustrated and disappointed – and perhaps
he was; but he saw what many people didn’t: this
life is not all there is.
I used to ride mountain-bikes with my friend Mike. We’d
be out on the trail and he’d always say: it
dudn’t (southern talk for ‘doesn’t’) get
any better than this! And he was partly right: beautiful mornings, clear
skies, fresh air, quiet; what more could we want? He called it his: stress release. Soon we’d be back in
family, job, traffic, hustle, bustle and the rest of life – but out on the
trail: perfect!
The Preacher’s admonition is for us to make the best of
this limited, meaningless life we have. It’s going to end. It has all of the
disappointments that are assigned to this life, but there is a reason to stay
upbeat and positive about it – otherwise, it’ll let us down. This life may have
limited meaning, but it has abundant purpose. But if we place too much value on
this life, (it dudn’t get any better than
this!) we’ll be dissatisfied.
The cure? Go, eat
your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has
already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint
your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of
this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless
days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.
Relax, there’s enough other stuff to get all worked up about…
There is purpose to this life. But this life is not all
there is, and the wise understand this. There is pain and toil and drudgery to
this life, but there is delight and happiness and accomplishment. The trick is
to keep things in proper perspective and I think perspective was the Preacher’s
main point. Too much of this life will let you down. Too little of it will bore
you to tears. Keep it simple and love your spouse.
This life is preparation for the next – unless, of
course, you think this one is all there is. If there is no God, then there is
no next life. But the Preacher
reminds us that there is a God, and we would be wise to remember we are not
Him. So, keep an eye on the important stuff in this life, make the best of
things, and try to live life happily, knowing that the next on is coming.
Life is 10% of what happens to us, and 90% of how we deal
with it…
Father in Heaven,
it’s not an endless cycle of lives that I’m to live, I just get one chance to
deal with the one I have. My prayer is help me to enjoy my life to the best of
my ability, and to live to help others enjoy theirs. Life is a journey and it
is better lived with others; may my journey be that of upbeat, and positive.
Thank You for the experience and I eagerly await the next - amen
No comments:
Post a Comment