The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What do people gain from all the toil
at which they toil under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises, and the sun goes down
and hurries to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;to the place where the streams flow,
there they continue to flow.
All things are wearisome,
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing
or the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been
in the ages before us.
The people of long ago are not remembered,
nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come
by those who come after them. ~ Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Years ago I did a Bible Study on Ecclesiastes and wrote some reflections on it on my old site. I was happy to see this reading pop up in the daily lectionary. Ecclesiastes feels like a good book to begin in the new year.
If you've never read it, give it a try! It's a book about the meaning of life. And on the surface, a challenging one to think of being in the Bible. It seems so fatalistic and even cynical in parts.
But for me it paints life in a way that we can often relate to.
Part of the perceived fatalism comes right at the beginning: "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity! Other ways this has been translated is: "everything is meaningless!" and "everything is useless."
I tend to prefer how the Message Bible phrases it: "There's nothing to anything. It's all smoke!"
Maybe I like it because it is so visual. And also it comes closest to the word most closely similar to the Hebrew word for vanity.
All is vapor.
I think you can imagine what vapor is. It's fleeting-ness. You can imagine the impossibility of capturing it in your grasp.
Are there times when vapor seems to be a good word for what happens in life?
When things just don't seem to be able to be held on to? Grasped a hold of? Kept?
There are things that were here, and then slowly fade away. There are things that seem to last, but then eventually disappear.
Can you think of something that was that kind of vapor in your life? Beautiful and then gone?
I'll bet you were happy for the beauty while it lasted!
Good and gracious God, there are things in my life that were fleeting, but that I am so grateful were in my life for their time. Help me not to hold on to things longer than you know I need to, and to appreciate the gifts as they come, even when they eventually go. Amen
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