Do your work.

Ahhh. Saturday. The day when I sleep late, watch lots of YouTube and take it easy. 

Oh, wait. I do that every day of the week, now.

I miss my rhythms. The habits and patterns I've created to keep me productive and motivated. I believe that God designed us to depend on rhythms. From the beginning of creation he set the pace. 

He created day and night, and gave us the sun and moon to govern our time. I do love all things celestial. I might say that of all of creation the sky points me to the Lord more than any of them.

I have been struggling to create new rhythms. It seems a bit pointless, if this will end and everything will go back to normal. The thing is though, Covid-19 has changed the world. It has changed individuals, communities, and therefore society as a whole. When we go back to "real life" nothing will look the same, or feel the same. Attempting to cling to something that no longer exists is... illogical. Solomon called it "meaningless." 

Lets take a peek at Ecclesiastes chapter 3:9-22. Solomon talks about what is good and right for human kind. He says that God has set eternity in the hearts of men, and yet we are incapable of understanding what he's done from beginning to end... we weren't created to understand "eternity." We were created under the rhythm set by the sun and moon. We were created for "now." Our perspectives are too limited to take on the long term plans of the Lord. 

Solomon says "I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live." 

So, what is the "good" that we can do? "That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil. This is the gift of God." (Ecclesiastes 3:13)

We were designed for work... even before the curse set in. God created Adam and Eve to look after the garden. (Genesis 2:15) This was good. It was, and is, the gift of God. 

Solomon goes on in this passage to lament the uncertainty of our fate. Eh. He was kind of an emo guy. 

 We know who holds tomorrow. We know that eternity waits for us. I don't think he was necessarily discussing the uncertainty of salvation (though, keep in mind this book was written before the Savior came to rescue us!) I think his mind was on the futility of trying to predict the effects of our labors here on earth.  I think he was wondering about the use of thinking on the distant future. We live today, here. We are guaranteed now, on earth, to do our work. Once we get to heaven our work has been completed. The work that the Lord is doing in us has been completed! Oh, Glory Hallelujah. What a day that will be! 

Ecclesiastes 3:22 says this: "So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him." We are not the ones in control of the outcome of our actions. We are in control of our obedience. 

And so, we are back at the beginning of this passage. Ecclesiastes 3:14: I know that everything God does will endure forever, nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him." 

The uncertainty of our tomorrows are by design. They are meant to point us to the Creator and King of it all. Our daily actions, the rhythms we set in our nows are the things that bring us to worship. Attempting to control anything other than what we are doing moment by moment is less than worship, and simply not what we have been designed for. When we step into mindfully participating in what we've been given to do is when we step into a future... a calling, a purpose... controlled by the one who is working it all out for our good. (Romans 8:28)

Be blessed, Dear Ones.