Meaningless
“Meaningless!!! Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
Until yesterday, this passage in my favorite book (by my favorite author might I add), seemed a bit dismal. I will admit I am by no means a Bible scholar, but rather I have decades of a real, raw relationship with a Creator capable of doing more than we can see or imagine. He knows the hairs on our heads and He suspends the stars in the sky, displaying His Glory. He knit us together before we were born, knowing that we would be born into sin. He gave us Jesus (aka an undeserved second chance) because He loves us unconditionally.
Until yesterday, I maybe… scratch that, definitely would have read the first part of the book of Ecclesiastes and wanted to skip over it. After all, it is verse after verse of what appears to be depression expressed in poetry….
“For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief”
How is that for a pep talk? Not the uplifting Sunday morning church (building) spiel you were expecting, I am sure. But that is what I love about being a Christian. Its not all rainbows and angels and sunshine… allow me to share my musings (and as of yesterday, convictions) on what this passage means… to me.
Until yesterday… I was carrying on as usual, amongst the “madness and folly” that is packing up a home whilst chasing two outdoorsy adventurous boys, attending to the needs of a 4 year-old- “princess” and a teething ten- month- old attached to me in more ways than one. I read once that cleaning a home with children in it is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos. So then moving (read: downsizing by 1800 square feet) with children must be like walking a recently ignited tightrope while wearing those lotion-filled aloe socks. Anyhow, you get the idea.
Until yesterday, it felt like each day, went “round and round,” just “ever returning on its course.” The streams (my hard work, organizing, phone calls to the lender, cleaning) kept flowing into the sea, but it seemed the sea was never full. Days started feeling a bit like groundhog day, almost militant. Without even realizing it, all things “grew wearisome, more than one can say” around here and we were drowning in our own blessings. Changes for our family that God had brought us for GOOD and not harm, were nearly lost.
The driver didn’t even slow down. He too, was caught up in the “meaningless” part of life.
Yesterday, we decided it was time to take a break from stuffing the totes, purging the possessions and tidying the aftermath at home. So as three of the four were snoozing away happily in their carseats, I waited (with my turn signal on because I drive like an Old Maid) to make my turn into the most beautiful blueberry farm ever to exist. Except we didn’t get to make that left. We did not pick those pucker-sour yet sweet little berries. Instead, a “phone-drunk” negligent driver nearly cost us all our lives. As I write this, it is fresh and the injuries are real. I continue to recall it over and over, looking back at my four sweet babies and praising the Lord for sparing us. We serve an awesome God who repeatedly saves us from ourselves.
Until yesterday, I could have read Ecclesiastes and not had my heart opened to its true meaning.
“A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil.”
Toil means to accomplish with great effort. Isn’t that what we, as a society of imperfect humans do? Do we not “love money yet never have enough” and are we not always “consuming good and then increasing them?” Are we always too much Martha and not nearly enough Mary (Luke 10:38-42)? Ecclesiastes goes on to say “They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.” It reminds me of one of my favorite country songs that shares this sweet yet powerful message…
“There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway, Why there’s not four of them, Heaven only knows. I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you, It’s what you leave behind you when you go”
Until yesterday, I was like a lightning bug in a mason jar zinging around from one side of the glass to the other. Our children were present yet disconnected, just making it a bit harder as I was in a hurry to get things done. But see the funny (but not so funny, kind of like hitting your unfunny bone) thing is, Ecclesiastes mentions how short life truly is. And while we have all heard that, are living it, and will one day look back and admit it, it is one of the greatest truths to ever exist.
“This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.”
They seldom reflect on the days of their life because GOD keeps them occupied with GLADNESS of heart. In other words they are content and happy with their “lot” because they don’t look back on things, they stay in the present, wrapped up only in the very day the Lord has made. Wow! When something in the Lord’s Word impacts me, I read it over and over and in different translations. Thus far here I have used the NIV version as reference but check out what the O.G. (I guess that’s the cool way of saying original nowadays) translation says.
Ecclesiastes 5:20 KJV
For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.
“The days are long but the years are short”, they say. “Cherish the time you have with your kids, they grow so fast” they say. “You only live once,” they say. But until you have almost lost it all, it is very difficult to operate in this thinking all the time. To have Joy in your heart requires something more meaningful than ourselves. This is why we need a Savior, a friend in Jesus, a Holy Spirit. Someone bigger than us. You may not be aware but we have a very real enemy who comes like a thief in the night (or during the day on a country road), to kill and destroy what God has set before us. This enemy is like a cancer, fatal to our soul. I have good news, friends. Although life seems full of toil, trouble, busyness and stress, we can take a step back and realize that most of “life” as we know it really is meaningless. Ask God what He has for your life. Take time to study Ecclesiastes (I grossly paraphrased here so please go read the whole book). Take time with God in prayer…it is truly my anxiolytic. If you haven’t already, ask Jesus to live in your heart.
Life is a precious, God-breathed gift. I could see it in the eyes of my children, hear it in my son’s voice as he asked how we could help the people in the other car, and feel it in my husbands arms as he bear-hugged me next to our mauled vehicle. Thankfulness casts out anxiousness and I will spend every single day of the rest of my life committed to an attitude of gratitude. . So thank you Lord for allowing us one more day on this Earth to do your work. May anyone reading this be encouraged to slow down, strip off what is meaningless, and strive to live every day with and for the Kingdom of God. Amen Amen Amen.
“The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.“
BUT Take heart, (John 16:33) have peace in ME, that although there will be great troubles in this world, I (the Lord) have already overcome them