Tag: Ecclesiastes

  • Best Friends

    “Best Friends. Slumber Parties. Cake. Presents. Secrets. Laughing 4 Ever!”
    – Mary Engelbreit

    I have the privilege of having several Best Friends. Admittedly, I am blessed. Friends from the past and friends from the present. Friends from past workplaces and various places of worship. We gain wisdom as we brainstorm together.

    Best Friends
    Best Friends

    There’s no particular agenda. We come as we are, not counting up the days since we’ve seen each other last time. No blaming, just listening. Laughter and cries oftentimes indistinguishable.

    When we return to our home spaces, we smile and count our blessings that God allowed us to meet yet another time on planet earth.

    • Can you name a friend(s) that you can get together with and just be yourself?
    • If not, where might you look for such a friend?
    • Isn’t it time to call a gathering?

    “By yourself you’re unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped”—Ecclesiastes 4:12/MSG

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  • Wanting just a little bit more – (Part II)

    Wise King Solomon wrote, “I said to myself, ‘Let’s go for it — experiment with pleasure, have a good time!’ But there was nothing to it, nothing but smoke” – Ecclesiastes 2:1 (The Message).

    That’s the trouble with taking matters into our own (incapable) hands. At first, it seems innocent enough but often with that first step begins a slippery, spiraling slope downward deeper and deeper. Deeper into frustration, guilt, anger, sorrow, and sin. In the end (and often along the way) a person is worse off than when they began to look and dream imaginatively about the object or person once craved. Life does not become better — just more complicated and people are hurt in the process.

    “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun” — Ecclesiastes 2:10–11.  

    Been there and done that.  There are times I wished I could take back the words uttered and the acts done. Trouble is: I cannot go backwards. My only choice is to move forward and forget the past. With forgetting the past comes asking God’s forgiveness for trying to run the show and do things my way. If only I had waited, God would have provided security, love, peace and confidence. I do have a choice: I can say I’m sorry to God and ask him to guide me next time. He’ll do that for me and for you. All we need do is call on him.

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  • Wanting just a little bit more – (Part I)

       Do you ever struggle with wanting something you know isn’t good for you? Maybe it’s an addiction, or wanting a bigger this or that, or a longing for a certain someone to notice you. I don’t mean just desiring this object or person, but craving it to the point of not being able to enjoy or appreciate present blessings. I know that feeling. No matter how much I try to talk myself into the fact that others don’t have it any better than I do (in fact, I might have it better but I’m just not noticing), it doesn’t work. I still end up obsessing to the point of making my life miserable at times. Why do I do this? Deep down, I know it is not healthy or even remotely productive.  It’s part of our fallen nature to want what we don’t have and try to question God’s ways.  

    Look at Eve and Adam. The serpent in the Garden, masqueraded as Satan, placed a delectable fruit within focus of Eve. The fruit (maybe it was an apple) looked appealing and smelled appetizing. What harm could come from taking a mere juicy bite? After all, they reasoned God would want them to be happy. And this looked like a happy way to go in their eyes. Adam and Eve figured it would taste yummy too, so they succumbed, ate the fruit, while believing they knew better than God. Wrong!

    What are some of your struggles?

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  • Shoshone Lodge – Yellowstone, Wyoming

    “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).

    One evening, Steve and I were privileged to join in the singing, dancing and making merriment with guitars, spoons, and voices! There was a special hoedown 80th birthday party for Jack. Jack lives at Shoshone Lodge and works there for free because he loves the area and the people so much.

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