WATCHWORD:
17 So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind. 18 I came to hate all my hard work here on earth, for I must leave to others everything I have earned. 19 And who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish? Yet they will control everything I have gained by my skill and hard work under the sun. How meaningless! 20 So I gave up in despair, questioning the value of all my hard work in this world. 21 Some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn’t worked for it. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy. 22 So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? 23 Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless. 24 So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him! Ecclesiastes 2:17-25
Meditation:
Chasing after the Wind
This is kind of a depressing passage, until you get to the clincher at the end. And, I suppose, we could look at some things in our past that has been pretty much drudgery, a chasing after the wind. That captures those down times, those times when things were not going our way, when all of life seemed to be an uphill climb.
In this morning’s Our Daily Bread reading, much of that ‘seeking after the wind’ specifics are listed in the preceding verses to this morning’s passage; riches, grand work projects and philosophical inquiries. Each one in the interest of finding happiness. Seeking, searching, chasing after happiness.
When one of my daughters was seven or eight we gave her a little plaque for her wall. I was the picture of a butterfly, and the caption was something like chasing after happiness is like chasing after a butterfly and it will fly away. But, stay calm, hold out your hand, and it will land on your finger. Happiness.
There was always something about that little picture philosophy that touches me. So much of our happiness comes as a bonus, a grace, a gift from being relaxed and at peace in God. And we let the glories of that happiness, the butterfly, land there, on our finger.
I think if we were being totally honest with ourselves we could look back on our lives and realize that the joy that we remember was all part of the journey. It wasn’t so much the rewards, the material things, it was the joy that came with the gifts God has given. In my case four children, followed by so much more, and that was just in the early years. Those gifts continue to come.
Be honest, such is true for you. The focus of our lives is not on finding bits of happiness along the journey, not in the results or the benefits we may have gained along the way, but the journey itself. The realization that without God, there is no enjoyment, there is no happiness and the journey would be chasing after the wind. But with God…Ah, with God — that’s the reward, that’s the gift, that’s the life.
Praise the Lord for he is good, His goodness is ever with us. Amen.
Bulletin Board:
Reference a previous Watchword — Thanks, for the reminder that loneliness is the worst of our modern pandemics. Time to make time to reach out to others. BN
Remember: Blessings posted here!
Closing Prayer:
God, have pity upon us. We want peace without pain and security without sacrifice. We want peace with our neighbors and others, but not the perils of peacemaking. O God, may we learn what love is. God, give us the grace to take things as they are, And to make them what they ought to be. We know, Heavenly Father, that the grace and strength to follow Your Will comes in the love that you so generously give. Help us to always follow your lead and to practice loving others as you have as you love us. Amen.
