August 2nd - Reflection

Ecclesiastes 2:1-17 (NRSV)
The fool accumulates wealth

I said to myself, "Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself." But again, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, "It is mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?" I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine - my mind still guiding me with wisdom - and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines.

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the one do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
The wise have eyes in their head,
but fools walk in darkness.

Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them. Then I said to myself, "What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?" And I said to myself that this also is vanity. For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools? So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Reflection
Life is not about how much we get or how much we do or how smart we are. The writer here seems to be coming to the conclusion that there is something else to life that he hasn't quite figured out yet.

It seems to me that this man is trying to get ahead of everyone else by something he does or has. But I think life is not about that at all. I'm coming to the conclusion that life is more about being a part of something much greater than myself. Life isn't about what I do or accomplish. Life is more about what God does and what God accomplishes in and through myself and those of whom I am a part of. Life is about lives coming together in love of one another and love together for our Savior. It seems to me that life exists in God and is given from God for all of us to be with God.

Prayer
Lord, as I run to your open arms, take me in and make me part of you. Put me close to your heart and give me life. --- Amen