Shabbat Shalom!
Hope everyone has had a good week. We have been very busy at the Temple with Religious School, Happy Hour, and Lunch and Learn. For the past few weeks at Lunch and Learn we have been studying the wisdom literature of the book of writings. We have studied Job and are now in the book of Ecclesiastes, which we will be studying for the next few weeks.
Ecclesiastes is referred to as part of the wisdom literature of the Bible. Often this book gets a bad reputation as a downer. However, I feel this book gives us a recipe for how to deal with all that life throws our way. Chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes deals with how a person can achieve the good life. The author concludes that the good life is not achieved through gaining wealth, prestige, or even labor. Instead, he concludes that the only way to achieve the good life for anyone, whether rich or poor, wise or simple, saint or sinner, is to learn to live in and enjoy the moment. He tells us not to worry about the future or our legacy, but to live in the moment and enjoy all the gifts that God has given us in creation.
24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for who can eat or find enjoyment if not I?
So while we all definitely have our eyes on the future, this book reminds us to find the balance and enjoyment of life by being present. Worrying about the future may help us feel better, but these feelings are fleeting. To find sustainable contentment, Ecclesiastes advises us to live in the moment and take joy in the work we do and actions we take for their own sake and nothing greater.
