Well amazing daze, you were ALL absolutely right, It was Peter the Pumpkin Eater. Way to go, you all.
Here's another brain teaser. Why did Adam & Eve get kicked out of the garden? Well, to bring it into contemporary terms, as we know today. It was because they didn't read the Apple terms and conditions. What a hoot, There's more truth to this one, than meets the eye, huh ?
Saturday 7/1
Ecclesiastes 1:3 "What do people get for all their work under the sun?"
This is a poem the Solomon wrote to illustrate for us the futility & brevity of life in verses 3-11 and so therefore; why our thoughts should be focused on more than just the amasssing of stuff, or the desire to be pleasing or popular among men.
So lets think about this for a minute. Just what direction his beginning thoughts are to have on guiding us towards. He starts off by pointing out the foolishness that just hard work may bring, if we live only thinking of the present.
This a last phrase "under the sun" pops up over & over in this book. In fact this exact phrase is spoken 29 times in Eccl. This phrase is meant to point out this one thought; That our focus must be directed to outside our physical world. We should work hard not just for present gain, but rather recognize that our eternal outlook is where our attention should be directed.
Do you ever remember a time where one of your children came up to you, then puts their little hands on both of your cheeks and attempted to point your vision onto something they are wanting to direct your eyes onto? This is Solomons intent in this verse. Did you let your child direct your attention onto the thing that they were desirous for you to see?
In this way he, this man of great wisdom, is striving to direct our attention to the toil of our lives, and the things that really eternally matter.
Now he isn't telling us to not work hard, or to ignore the needed efforts of our life, rather he is attempting to hold our attention to this one thing, one thought. What is the way that your efforts can bring the greatest impact on your world? Or, will your life as you are living it today have any eternal influence on those who you love?
I for one have come to a different sort of outlook, since facing this time when I was totally helpless with the illness of Covid. Rather than focusing on this present state (the human state); rather I have been confronted with this overwhelming thought. How will this action that I am taking this very moment influence the courts of heaven?
This is the thought process that Solomon is striving to move our eyes toward. What will the efforts of today, in this present day, have on the long term future? I am afraid to think; that if this became the focus of our world today, just how different our direction in life may be.
Solomon had taken up the bulk of his life, now in his final years he is redirecting his thoughts to JUST HOW these many actions may affect his long term legacy. How his children will live, due to the course that his life has set, or how the nation will proceed, due to his unspoken actions. (His life testimony)
Wow, How convincing are these thoughts? What impact have these redirecting thoughts had on us today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, etc. etc. etc.? These are the overwhelming hopes that this verse should have on us.
In a nut shell:
If we are looking to the present to bring satisfaction, substance, meaning, happiness, then we're in
trouble. Rather; We've got to begin to continually look heavenward, to our Savior, then these daily
efforts will take on their fullest meaning.
So Go With God for He alone can move our eyes in the direction that we all need to look.