Nothing New under the Sun?

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Superiority of Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

The Message

The Quester

 ¹These are the words of the Quester, David's son and king in Jerusalem ^2-11 Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That's what the Quester says.] There's nothing to anything—it's all smoke.
   What's there to show for a lifetime of work,
      a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?
   One generation goes its way, the next one arrives,
      but nothing changes—it's business as usual for old planet earth.
   The sun comes up and the sun goes down,
      then does it again, and again—the same old round.
   The wind blows south, the wind blows north.
      Around and around and around it blows,
      blowing this way, then that—the whirling, erratic wind.
   All the rivers flow into the sea,
      but the sea never fills up.
   The rivers keep flowing to the same old place,
      and then start all over and do it again.
   Everything's boring, utterly boring—
      no one can find any meaning in it.
   Boring to the eye,
      boring to the ear.
   What was will be again,
      what happened will happen again.
   There's nothing new on this earth.
      Year after year it's the same old thing.
   Does someone call out, "Hey, this is new"?
      Don't get excited—it's the same old story.
   Nobody remembers what happened yesterday.
      And the things that will happen tomorrow?
   Nobody'll remember them either.
      Don't count on being remembered. .

For Reflection
Well, that should take the wind out of your sails!

I had a frustrating day -- interruption after interruption -- one problem addressed another appeared.  All the rivers flowed from the same place -- Groundhog Day all over again, and again, and again.

Then I remembered "Its not about me!"  It's about the help I was providing.  Things smoothed out.  Frustrations disappeared one challenge at time.

This is not a new revelation, but rather, a remembering of an older one.

Pray
for patience when life happens.  Pray that in times of frustrating circumstances, you will be comforted by God-centered wisdom.  Pray that you remember that you sacrificed the "YOU" for the greater focus on graceful work.