Soooo,  I have been given the pleasure and privilege to be able to chat once a week with a collection of three, make that THREE, very wise young ladies (lucky me!)…Yes, we meet every Monday at my wee little office to share a wee little bit about the wee little things we’re ‘doing’.. …But mostly about the way we are growing and the truths we are knowing…And right now, right after we finished reading Proverbs (because I mean, who have I not talked to in the last ‘wee while’ that is NOT reading Proverbs?? …and I am not kidding about that either! lol!) we moved oh-so-gracefully into the next book: good ol’ Ecclesiastes!!

And I dont think all these ladies have read this Book of the Bible before (nor can ANY of us can seem to say or spell it correctly :)) but whoa, what are we learning? It is so very cool! Now it is not my first time thru it, but just because I thought I ‘already knew it’, this round just proves there are always more Good-GOD truths to be found…each and every ROUND. 

And there they began, bang! Right off and into Chapter 1 (and there GOD goes again DOING that! Teaching me not to miss, skip or skim ANY verses) because He oh-so-clearly begins to…..oh-so-CONFUSE some of us with the concept of just how: 

MEANINGLESS LIFE IS. (Chapter 1:2)

Oh….Ewww…OUCH.   What a downer.

And oh yes, one of these young ladies has recently had some unexpected deaths in her family and she is working hard in her heart to process them, and then to go and read this?? How ‘meaningless’ life is? Well, she had to say, this chapter in this book did not make her day….

But one other young oh-so-wise lady had a whole different take on this (and maybe you have heard it before) but as we studied and chatted a little bit more, we began to explore how so much of what we DO or AIM FOR does NOT equal value ….or fulfilment ….or success…. or well, long term ‘meaning’ of any kind.

I mean, I can look back and ‘rewind’ and see how I was just like KING SOLOMON in all the ‘stuff’ I tried to use to try and FILL the box of FUN and FULFILLMENT in my wee world….and head…and heart…. And as we moved into Chapter 2, we can sure see how back then he (and how in this life, ME!) gave a hard shot looking for meaning in all these areas:

-wine -property and money -entertainment

-folly -projects/PRODUCTIVITY -relationships (dating!!!)

-reputation -power -popularity

But what myself, and this WIZE KING soon found out, is that after alllllll the time, effort and energy, it basically boils down to this FACT. You can choose to either: 

 “Toil for SPOILS or Toil for TRUTH”.

Yup, you CAN go hard after these areas (trust me, I know that in many seasons in my life, I sure did: INtentionally and UNintentionally too…..and there are still few that even now try poke and pop thru). But what I have found,  and King SOLOMON so cleared tested out too,   that even though in the short term they “feel’ like they bring some “FUN”, in the long one?? They really are  pointless SPOILS (that really do SPOIL your soul) and really, oh-so-really, do not bring any meaningful or lasting reward…

Boo…blahhh…and so, what IS the point?.

Does this mean we have NO mission, no motive, no meaning at all??

Heck NOOOOO!! Because, well??…

We ARE meant to be ENJOYING TOILING for HIS TRUTHS!

YES, this IS the best job ever!….Because the rewards are THE best ever (and ps: they last forever too..:)

Once I finally learnt to stop looking for fulfillment in all these oh-so-easy to access areas and really began to dig into  growing in GOD’s TRUTHS, well, so much of life just got simpler, ‘sillier’ and so much more FUN.

“A person can do nothing better than to eat (carbs??lol! :):), drink (more water  than coffee, siigghhh….;) and find satisfaction in their TOIKL. This too is from the hand of the lORD” (Chapter 2:24). And by ‘toil’, I really began to realize THAT my JOB is this: just growing in HIS TRUTHS…Because as I do that,  all those other ‘extreme things’ I thought would be so fulfilling, they soon prove false and fall fast and far away ..

And now at the end of the day, I feel SO GOOD knowing I am doing the ‘GOOD work’ of growing  a little MORE in my heart – and growing a little more for HIM.. 

And so no, good ol’ Ecclesiastes? It wasn’t brand new to me.  But through these young ladies, it did reveal another layer of ‘TOIL’ this girl will keep trying to work on: No longer about those short term SPOILS, but building JOY thru the TOILING for HIS TRUTHS.

Soo, here we go! Which areas have you found yourself ‘swirling and spoiling’ around in before? Or now?? Or thinking about pursuing and doing???…TIME to think through WHY you CHOOSE to DO, what you CHOOSE to do….and just so you know, I am too 😉

Bless you  for your time ladies…and I cannot wait to hear what landed on your heart today…….Carol 😉

Change-CHOICE-TRUTH