Tag: Ecclesiates

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Enjoy!

I saw this hilarious t-shirt yesterday and figured it was worth sharing on this Wednesday.

That’s right – Remember to enjoy ( and be thankful for) the little things in life!  Even Protons!  And people, and water, and electricity, and bees, and automatic windows on your car, and a nice chair in your office, and a roof, and the list goes on.

18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Ecclesiastes 5:18 English Standard Version (ESV)

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Little Drummer Boy

There is one tradition Christmas carol that for the last several years I have pretty much despised.  And that is the Little Drummer Boy.  My analytical brain could not handle this crazy addition to the Christmas Story.  I mean, who is this kid, and where in the world did he come from.  And why is he waking the baby playing that blasted drum?

However, last year, I started thinking about this song a little differently, and even more so this year.  Now, let me stop and say that it’s not that I have developed an affection for it, but I have been able to begin to tolerate it.  I guess it’s not really about a made up drummer boy, and his drum.  It’s really a lesson about giving all you have to the Savior of the world. ( I know many of you are saying Duh , where have you been!)

As the Holiday approaches very rapidly, I am sure you will hear many renditions of this number on the internet or over the air waves.  As you do remember these two little bits of wisdom from the scriptures.

17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17 New International Version (NIV)

 

10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.  Ecclesiastes 9:10 New International Version (NIV)

 

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Friday Math Fun

This has been a week were I have often referred to silly ‘mathy’ things about the date.  I ‘figured’ I could continue that for one last day, especially after ready Seth Goodin recent blog entry.

Mr. Goodin is an author of, I guess motivational and leadership books.  Several of which are quite famous.  Anyway, his blog is a pretty neat resource for ideas and thought leadership.  This week he posted a short and simple entry on the differences between arithmetic and mathematics.

I found this really fascinating for a few reasons.  First, it’s because so many times when my boys are struggling with homework in their math classes I tell them, once you get the concept down this is just arithmetic – it’s should be really easy for you.  And that is usually the case, as we all understanding arithmetic – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  It’s the mathematical concepts that trip us up.

The other reason is that I can relate to him on so many days.  At work, and even in life it seems at times that all I am doing is the repetitive aspects of arithmetic – but missing the creative, risk taking, mathematical parts of the day – both in work and in life.

And I think this is also so clear in our spiritual lives.  How good are we at doing the basic redundant things – smiling, saying “I’m good”, appearing to have it all together but we are missing the risky parts of live.  Things like solving the problem in a relationship, getting to know someone, growing ourselves, stepping out on faith, thinking about our thinking?

It’s a pretty interesting thought for a Friday – especially from a very short blog post.  Make sure you read it.

 1 Ship your grain across the sea;

after many days you may receive a return.
2 Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

3 If clouds are full of water,
they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

5 As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.

6 Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well. Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 New International Version (NIV)

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Where’s the Fun

Way back in December of 2009 I posted about the Volkswagen fun theory. This has been something I have been thinking about a lot lately, and it was brought back to my mind with earnest first by this interesting quote that appeared on Amy’s daily calendar last week

Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun. -George Scialabba

and then by two very innovative Volkswagen commercials that have made the scene in recent weeks, The Force and the Black Beetle.  Both of these commercials are fill of innovation and fun.

I have often thought about this whole concept of the fun theory over the last 14 months.  Trying to see how to apply it to my home life, my church life, and my work life.  Hey 2 out of 3 aint bad – is it?  Well, that would probably be ok if it wasn’t that the 1/3 that is sans fun accounts for oh 2/3 of my waking hours. It seems sometimes that we I forget that enjoyment of our days is all that we I have.  There is so much to this fun theory, yet it is so incredibly easy to assume that there is something else that we are striving for.   I am all for getting the job done, working hard, and producing a product that brings glory to our Lord,  however, it has to so much better when there is an element of fun involved.

But unfortunately some time the creative is eaten up by the mundane, and the imagination is stymied in process and procedures.  Yesterday was one of those days where I wanted to reach through the telephone and produce untold damage on some of the people of the other end.  Fun.. well not really.  It was actually the farthest thing from fun. I guess that could be viewed as extreme, but is was not fun and as produces a very unpleasant working experience.  It shouldn’t have to be that way.

I have posted about the whole concept of work and my reliance on the writer of Ecclesiastics for a sign of hope before ( here, here and well here.  Or here for the whole list), and once again I go back to the well for some direction on having fun and enjoying the days.  The old man of wisdom says this

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. Ecclesiastes 2:24 (New Living Translation)

and in the even more contemporary Message paraphrase

24-26 The best you can do with your life is have a good time and get by the best you can. The way I see it, that’s it—divine fate. Whether we feast or fast, it’s up to God. God may give wisdom and knowledge and joy to his favorites, but sinners are assigned a life of hard labor, and end up turning their wages over to God’s favorites. Nothing but smoke—and spitting into the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:24, The Message)

Let’s not let our God given intelligence go unused. Let us use let that intelligence have fun and let our imaginations take over. I strongly believe it will make the toil of work so different and that it will produce the satisfaction that many of us ( er me) long for each day when we head off the exchange our time for money.

Be creative, have fun , let your imagination run wild and bring glory to God.

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Plodding Along

So yesterday I mentioned the way those kids where plodding through the corn maze, like they were on some mission.  They were marching down the rows of corn, plodding, always moving forward, but really to what end.  As I trailed that last girl, I wandered to myself, ‘wow, this feels like a microcosm of my life’.

Have you ever felt that way.  Plodding, get up, work, practices, homework, bills, sleep, and tomorrow – do it again!  It’s very easy to get in this march of life.  Down through the corn maze – up on the rat race, plodding, moving, but never really getting anywhere.

2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”

3 What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?  Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 (New International Version)

oh yes, depressing, meaningless.  So here he are sojourners, navigating the corn maze, plodding forward, never looking back, but  to what end.   Well, check out Psalm 39.  David says

4 “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting is my life.

He asks God to make it very clear to him that we are plodding along frail, like a vapor, so that He would place his Hope in  God alone.

7 “But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you.

And then he ends the Psalm by crying out and stating the he is just a traveling, traveling with God.

12 “Hear my prayer, O LORD,
listen to my cry for help;
be not deaf to my weeping.
For I dwell with you as an alien,
a stranger, as all my fathers were.

I personally find some strength there in knowing that this feeling of vanity is normal, and it has a purpose – to send me searching for my Creator.  So I will continuing the plodding, but not aimlessly.  Oh sure, my days will be filled with vanity and worthlessness, as yours will be. However, there is a hope that will bring comfort to my days when I look for him through the maze.

3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
(Psalm 43:3a, New King James Version)