Lately, I’ve been very reflective in my thinking and in my observances of my personal world. I realize it’s because I have been surrounded by the death of my stillborn granddaughter, my brother and a longtime pioneer in our local congregation. Death is part of life. It’s the closing of a chapter in one’s life and opens the door of another. The sadness is there but it is through faith that I am comforted.
I have reflected on the question, “What is the meaning of life”? It’s like a progress review of my life. I ask:
Why do I feel so dry?
Have I really accomplished what God intended for my life?
What have I discovered about myself through my life experiences?
Where am I going now?
Solomon wrote: ” All things are wearisome, more than I can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear it’s fill of hearing. What has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come.”
Solomon challenges our faith; to find true and deep-rooted meaning in God alone. It’s a good thing to take a seriously hard look at your life. This is what Solomon did with his. And, by doing this we can see how important serving God is over all other alternatives.
When I consider other alternatives, I discover they don’t offer that which my heart seeks-peace of soul and spirit. Everything in my life has a time element. And, time just won’t stop to give me a break! So it’s up to me to discipline myself and balance that in my life to meet time requirements reasonably. It’s not an easy thing to do.
I don’t know about you, but I have experienced through the life learning process that anything that has significant value is not an easy thing to obtain. It costs! The scriptures noted above are found in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes and as I read them again and again, I realize the challenge is to reassess my purpose and its course. This is God’s challenge and after considerable days of rethinking, I have accepted it.
Today, I read, “What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.” In writing about his own life, Solomon found that neither all the possessions he had; status, wisdom, accomplishments, education could make him very happy. The very real and distinct wisdom is found in God; nowhere else. And, satisfyingly happiness? That comes from pleasing the Lord!
I share what I am learning from my personal reassessment. It is those times of confusion and bewilderment due to the inability of finding the unanswered questions of life, “What is crooked cannot be straightened” that our answer is in God. Life without him is woefully difficult and without him we cannot have true happiness and satisfaction. It’s that simple.
I bless the Name of the Lord for He is worthy of all my praise and worship! I bless His Name because regardless of my inability to fully comprehend His unfailing love; I humbly accept it and choose to hope in Him, trust in Him and live my life in Him. That is my choice, and I’m truly grateful that I can make that choice for myself.
ritasalomon 