If Only

If only

 

I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. (Ecclesiastes 1:17)

 

            AFTER onE YUMMY LICK around the double dip of ice cream on a sugar cone, it spills—splat! Gone. The promising refreshment of a popsicle on a hot day drops off the stick and melts on the sidewalk. Wasted.

            You invest money in stocks and bonds to produce dividends; then the stock market fails. If only . . . You work long, sacrificial hours to provide everything your family could want; then the children leave, and you are left lonely. If only . . .  

            Solomon, gifted by God with the greatest of wisdom, riches, power, authority and earthly things, had mandated that life was to be enjoyed. His concluding inventory in today's reading bears a depressing tone. “If onlys” and regrets are detected. As invisible ink reveals secrets, accomplishments and all of life seem to stare at him. Even the gift of wisdom he had requested from God seemed empty at this down time in his life. There was no solace and no satisfaction. The lesson that surfaces from the pages of Ecclesiastes is that without God, life is meaningless—a losing chase after the wind.

            Get a jump on the “if onlys” that might be waiting around the corner for you. Take regular inventory of your living. Keep it God-purposed.

 

—Jeanette Vermilya

 

A purposeful, satisfying life comes from honoring God in all we do.