Archive for purpose
A Time to Throw Away
Posted by: | CommentsA time to keep,
And a time to throw away; Ecclesiastes 3:6
Perhaps there is no time when I more identify with the writer of Ecclesiastes than when I clean out my refrigerator. ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” “What profit has a man (or woman) from all (their) labor in which they toil under the sun?”
I must confess I find it difficult to find fulfillment in menial household tasks such as cleaning out the frig. My soul cries out, “Surely life is more than this!” Yet at my house, cleaning out the frig falls onto the task list with my name on it.
So last week I accidentally found myself cleaning out the refrigerator. You know those moments. I pulled out something and threw it away. Then I took out some leftovers and gave them to Charlie, our beloved mutt. And suddenly, one thing led to another and I was doing it. Relentlessly tossing out everything that cluttered my frig.
I got so caught up in the experience that I began checking the expiration dates on my bottled dressings, peppers, pickles, you name it, I was on a mission to have the perfectly organized refrigerator and to get rid of everything old.
First of all, I must admit that I was haunted by the words I recently read in a magazine that reminded me that the most expensive part of our food budget was the foods that we threw away. Ouch. I really intended to eat that bit of leftovers. I meant to cook stuffed peppers but now they were, well, unstuffable.
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There is a Purpose
Posted by: | CommentsEccl 3:1
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
Can any statement be more disturbing? This suggestion that there is purpose in all the seasons of our lives?
Yes, we can believe that there is a purpose in birth, in love, in laughter, but how can there be purpose in death? In loss? In grief? In sadness?
But yet the basic fabric of our lives has to be built on the reality of purpose. The writer of Ecclesiastes goes on to say in Eccl 3: 11 that He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
At times, I find myself wanting to have a word with God on this matter! “No, God, surely this season is not beautiful and you cannot be working in this. I can’t see it.” I feel with the writer of Ecclesiastes that I can’t figure out this work that God is doing.
As believers, we grope and wrestle for meaning in the midst of our struggles because of the very eternity that God has put in our hearts. Encounters with God, whether we would categorize them as springtime, summer, fall, or winter, have eternal importance and all leave the taste of purpose in our mouths.
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Got Power?
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One of my favorite vacation spots is Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and nearby Pigeon Forge. There is something about vacationing in the Great Smoky Mountains that feels like taking a deep, refreshing breath.
Although I don’t particularly enjoy the crowds found there during the Fall, the Smoky Mountains are wonderfully beautiful then. The brush stokes of yellow, orange, and red across the mountain trees just make one want to sit down in an old rocking chair and rest a while.
In Pigeon Forge there is a picturesque restaurant called The Old Mill built inside an old water-powered gristmill on the bank of the Little Pigeon River. In the early 1800’s, the mill produced the flours, meals from corn and wheat, and even the electricity for the little town. One of The Old Mill’s most distinctive features is the giant water wheel that harnesses the flow of the Little Pigeon River. The Old Mill was created to produce for the people. Its flow and the harnessing of its power had distinctive purpose.
On Sunday, I reminisced about The Old Mill, it was as if I were there. In my mind’s eye, I could see the beautiful river flowing. I could feel the spray off the water as it tumbled along. I could hear the music of the moving water.
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