Well…I definitely feel like an old man today. My oldest daughter, Tami, reaches the big 5-0 mark today. She has been a real joy and blessing to have, raise, and watch grow into a godly woman. She has a heart as big as the ocean, especially for kids. Even though she has never had any of her own; never been married; she oozes love for kids. She has taught Kindergarten for almost all of her 25 years teaching. The last 3 have been spent teaching in our local Spencer-Owen School System. Due to a heart attack (SCAD) 4 years ago, she lives with us (her apartment had 25 steps almost straight up and the doctor said, “No way”). So after living on her own for 3-4 years, enduring COVID, leaving in the dark and coming home in the dark, having almost zero friends due to said schedule, she moved in with us and has stayed. Plus, affordable housing in Spencer is almost non-existent these days due to expansion. She is enjoying a vacation of sorts to Tennessee where she lived for the first 15 years of her teaching career. We encouraged it, especially after the rough teaching year she had. Happy Birthday #1 daughter (birth order). 🙂
I finished reading Proverbs on May 31 so I just continued reading the book which is next: Ecclesiastes. If you haven’t read it, you must. I challenge you to do so. I read Chapter 2 this morning and there is NO WAY someone can read this book and say the Bible is irrelevant. Ecclesiastes is as relevant a book in the Bible as you will read just about anywhere. In 1:9 it says, “History repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is new.” Hmmm sounds vaguely familiar to “Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
In Chapter 2 there is more “pull-no-punches” stuff. “I tried pleasure and found it was meaningless.” (2:1) “I tried to cheer myself with laughter and wine and found it was foolishness.” (2:2-3) “I built and made gardens and planted trees. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure…it was meaningless, like chasing the wind.” (2:5-11) His conclusion? “So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless-like chasing the wind.” (2:17)
What a sad state of affairs for the wisest man on earth. Solomon was given so much and he threw it all away. Ecclesiastes is his story of endless and meaningless pursuits. It is sobering. It is raw. It is honest. It is relevant. People today are no different than they were in Solomon’s day. Pursuing pleasure, temporary answers, and a salve to an empty life that will never be satisfied, except in a relationship with Christ. Stop pursuing that which does not last and pursue the ONE who loves you more than you know.
Tell Tami “Happy Birthday!” from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania! To teach kindergarten for 25 years she must be part saint and part Energizer Bunny! When I subbed kindergarten was my most challenging and exhausting grade of all!
Solomon is a conundrum— and his story is a cautionary tale. “Having it all” in this world doesn’t satisfy. Gods love and grace are gifts we must treasure and never take for granted.
I will tell her Pam. Thanks for the well wishes for her and understanding, more than some might, the challenge she faces as a K teacher. And yes, Solomon is a conundrum. Such promise and such failure.
A very happy and blessed birthday to Tami!!! And it is so true that there is nothing new under the sun, Bill. Our lives can only be made rich and full when God is first and foremost in our hearts and minds. Learning that over the years, personally, has not been without pain or struggle, but loving Him is worth it all and then some.
Blessings!
I’ll say thanks from Tami, Martha. But you are right that in learning that there is nothing new under the sun is a struggle, but I wouldn’t change it.
The unquenchable desire for more stems from the original sin to know all and be like God. I chase the endless pursuits of life thinking it will satisfy. Thinking the next thing will surely bring me to a place of completion. Like Solomon, we strive for more things, more knowledge, more experiences.. yet God has already offered that which will fullfil all we need, Himself. I just need to be willing to stop and draw from His well and not the well others continue to dig or the wells I dig myself.
Happy 5 0 to Tammy, A milestone birthday for sure!
It is an unquenchable desire for sure, Ryan. Makes one wonder that if that is true why do we persist on chasing it? If I remember correctly you also just celebrated #5-0.
Happy birthday Tami. There is nothing new under the sun, we still repeat the same mistakes as those before us, so in fact history does repeat itself. Whenever I clean out a closets, or go through cabinets I think why did I buy that. God is all I need, and nothing will satisfy needs the way that God does. I am trying to consider every purchase now is it a want or a need, and trying hard to minimize wasteful resources. Being in a relationship with God, there is no gift or material item that can hold up to that.
Oh the purging! Lots of buyers remorse then! 🙂 Been there done that too. But you are right Gail. Nothing like a relationship with God. Hands down.