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"A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?" Ecclesiastes 2:24-25
First of all, despite this verse from Solomon, this post is about celebration--of a year completed, of a job well done, of lessons learned, of joy complete--and today, of welcome home!
Is our work always fulfilling? Are our days endlessly satisfying? I can hear you saying, "Um, no—not even close." Mine either.
No one likes to feel like their best efforts are wasted. My job has its perks and its downsides. Your year at "la pinta" had them as well.
There's a prevailing notion in our culture that if we could just find the perfect job-our dream job-we'd have day after day of blissful purpose. But even the noblest task, the most glamorous profession, or the most acclaimed work has its frustrations.
King Solomon realized this and resented it. He seems to have loathed life when his meals, his money and his work didn't prove endlessly satisfying (Ecc. 2:18). He was wise to realize no carnal, earthly, or material thing will ever fully satisfy us. No dinner party, employee-of-the month award, new home, relationship, merit raise, coffee drink, or end-of-season clearance sale. (Well, shoot. But it's true.)
Solomon looked at life's inability to truly satisfy and the fact that one day he'd be gone and his work may not be remembered, and decided all was vanity—all is meaningless here under the sun apart from God.
The book of Ecclesiastes puzzling, with its "everything is meaningless" refrain. Solomon seemed to call everything life has to offer pointless. I get what Solomon meant, but I'm pretty rebellious about accepting the idea that life's pleasures and accomplishments are all for nothing.
So how do we approach work and leisure or frustration and pleasure? Our driving goal is to craft a meaningful life that is pleasing to both us and God, whether it's cooking classes, reading novels, or our life's vocation. I think that we can learn to better glory in life's little pleasures and let them fortify us against discontent, depression, and sin.
There is a divine secret about this in Ecclesiastes. It starts with the moments of enjoyment that are found in our work, our laughter, or even our daily food. They are sheer gifts from God and they are gifts to relish.
Moments of enjoyment are gifts that remind us, in a world that is often dark, cold, and disappointing, that God is good. They don't offer continuous bliss—they punctuate our days of toil and tears. They give us a taste of an afterlife that will exceed the earthly pleasures of a good meal, a tulip in bloom, or a job well done.
These gifts can satiate us over and over with—here's the key—gratitude to God. They not only gratify us when we enjoy them, but they point us to a loving Creator who holds pleasures evermore in His right hand (Psalm 16:11).
That realization makes us want to enjoy the gift and the moment even more.
This gratitude is deeply satisfying—it's pleasing to both us and God. So we eat, and drink, and take satisfaction in our work, for without Him there would be no enjoyment. And in them we can honor God with our pleasure.
Job well done, Sarah, come on home and regroup for a while! Love you, Mom
Dear Lord, thank You for each and every source of enjoyment You provide in this life. Lord, every good and perfect gift comes down from Your hand, and I am grateful. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
