”The words of the Teacher, son of David, King in Jerusalem:
Meaningless! Meaningless!
says the Teacher.
Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
Ecclesiastes 1: 1-2
The church calendar steps into the Pentecost season now. Our heart orientation changes from asking who our God is to asking ourselves who we are to our God. Put less theologically, we are searching our hearts, asking ourselves how we are to live in this world of ours with politics, wars, demonstrations and a cultural motif of tolerance and inclusivity. When I suspect yet another commercial is trying to convince me who are the good guys and who are the bad guys in the upcoming elections this November, my ears turn off. I can feel a deep cynicism in my heart. If you were to fill a glass half full of water and put it on the table, would you be tempted to see it as half empty or half full?
Not only has all the political mudslinging and social media cross-examination deepened my cynicism but I am now facing the future as a widow feeling half empty as I try and reinvent myself after the funeral. Perhaps you are facing your own reorientation, walking into the empty nest phase as you sent a child off to college, or you are stepping into a new marriage, perhaps orienting to a new work, or you’ve moved to a new setting. My good friend’s 19 month old toddler grandchild suddenly died last week. Another friend fell getting out of her chair and is headed into surgery for a broken leg at age 80, after a stroke last Fall. Yup, for many the future is clouded by the reality of life and we are not sure if our glasses are half full or half empty.
The Book of Ecclesiastes was written centuries ago by “the Teacher” who identifies himself as a “son of David, king in Jerusalem.” Many think the author might have been Solomon. Ecclesiastes is one of the three Wisdom Books in the Old Testament and is considered my many as a difficult book to understand. Ecclesiastes may have been written centuries ago but I find the opening cry resonates with my heart on those days when I am struggling to make sense of life.
So let’s look at Ecclesiastes for a minute and see where it leads us. Those first lines challenge me to ponder, is my life half full or half empty. If you are doing a journal or have a piece of paper near, let’s divide it in half. On one side write “Full” and on the other write “Empty.” This is the fifth month of 2024 so let’s list five dynamics in life that bless and make you full. On the other side list five energy draining dynamics. Now spend time thanking God for the blessings. Thank you Lord for family, friends, nature, smiles, and music!
On the Way to Wonder 