FOUND A PENNY LOST A POUND The preacher in today‟s reading summed it all up: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!” The Hebrew word for vanity means “emptiness” or a mere “breath of air”, something that is insubstantial, here today and gone tomorrow. What the preacher is trying to get across is that there is no point in getting involved with working, earning and enjoying possessions if at the same time we miss out on the real happiness of life. A young man once found a £20 note on the pavement. From that time on he never lifted his eyes from the ground when walking. In the course of 40 years he accumulated 29,516 buttons, 54,172 pins, 7 pennies, a bent back and a miserly disposition. At the same time, he lost the glories of the sunlight, the smiles of friends, the songs of birds, the beauties of flowers, trees, blue skies and all that is worth living for in life: the opportunity to serve his fellow men and women, to spread happiness and to walk with God. Most of us have to work in order to live. But we don‟t have to join the rat race. We need money to buy food and clothes but if we don‟t enjoy what we are doing then we live unfulfilled lives. Nothing that we possess actually belongs to us; it passes to the next generation. Jesus tells us that our life is not made secure by what we own but by our relationship with God and others, particularly with our families. We can become distracted by what the world considers important - money, power, status - and if we are distracted, then our toil and work is like the breath of wind here one minute, gone the next. It is only through God that my toil, my work, my enjoyment of life can have meaning and purpose. It is in that relationship with God that I can be free to work, free to use the fruits of my labour to serve God and the people around me. In that relationship with God I can be free to love and care, free from the bonds of greed to enjoy life, to discover the beauty of relationships with those who care for me as I am, and the thrill of knowing that when this life is ended, I will be given eternal wealth.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 02:37:33 +0000
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