This is a Gift of God

Scripture: Here is what I have seen to be good: It is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. Furthermore, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God. Ecclesiastes 5:18-19

Observation: The teacher - Solomon, writing the word of God - has some profound ideas about enjoying life. One of those ideas is that, when we work and then use the results of that work to experience happiness in life, then we know the work itself is actually part of God's blessing. This is good ... to experience good things because of the work we do. Conversely, those who labor for only the accumulation of wealth that they will never enjoy, are not being blessed by God. Sure, they may succeed (by earthly measures) due to their sheer hard work and intelligence, but they feel empty, what they accumulate will go to others, and their lives are a meaningless chasing of the wind.

Application: Every once in a while I look at how my wife and I live, and wonder if we've lived the right way. I budget just over $30K per year JUST for "travel", and that does NOT include our normal activities of going out to dinner 2-4 times a week. At any given time, the retail value of the wine in our house is approximately $7,000 and we drink (and replenish) it at a rate of 2-3 bottles a week. Then every once in a while I look at things like significant number of $5M homes in Maui and Kauai that I could never fathom affording and think to myself "there can't be THAT many people with THAT much more money that I have". We live in a good but average home, in an average middle-class neighborhood, with good but average cars, and I wonder ... did we throw our money away over the years?

Unequivocally, the answer is no. Instead, we have lived in the Lord's blessing. And first, make no mistake, everything in our lives has been the Lord's blessing to us. My career is unexplainable any other way, and even the math of how much we spend, how much we have, and how much we earn just ... well, it doesn't math. We have absolutely everything we need, all the comforts anyone could reasonably want, while also living a joyful life with experiences and a total lack of serious worry.

Solomon would agree and give us a thumbs-up. We labor, receive the Lord's blessing, and then lean into that outpouring of God's love when we eat, drink, and experience good things during their few days of life God has given us. I won't call it a reward for we could not ever be good enough to earn a reward from God ... it is a blessing the Lord gives us despite our failures. The fact he not only gives us these blessings, but also allowed us to enjoy them, is a gift of God.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you for your blessings. I see all you have done for me and all you have given me, a full measure, pressed down, and overflowing, and I know I did not earn this. I could not earn it, and I could not even do this, if not for your love. I thank you, Abba. Thank you. Amen.