The Little Irritants In Life

Without a good downpour of rain … the earth will not yield it’s fruits and there will be a severe famine on the earth. The farmer is praying for rain and the bride is praying for sunshine. The man who drives the tow truck is waiting for an accident to happen to pay his bills while the young driver who just purchased his first car is praying he doesn’t get in an accident. The funeral home director is preparing for a rich man’s funeral, while the rich man is spending a fortune to remain healthy.

Ecclesiastes 1:13 says, “What a heavy burden God has laid on the sons of men, to keep them occupied!” Then in verse 18 it says, “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases.”

Though life can be challenging … as humans we have a gut feeling that there must be more to this life than what we are getting out of it. In an attempt to fill that void we keep ourselves preoccupied with people, places to go and things to see. And as the world around us become still and night approaches … the void returns back to the hole inside of us.

What a heavy burden?

Solomon calls it “FOLLY” ( a lack of good sense) …. we call it ‘Let’s keep moving and exploring all our options…there must be something we can find to fill the emptiness.

The emptiness in every one of us is an unquenchable hunger for something more than meet the human’s mind and eyes. It’s unrealistic to assume that the void will go away by ignoring it, or getting more busy doing stuff. So we may as well roll up our sleeves, throw our hair in a bun, and say to ourselves … ‘I’ve got this!

Self-talk is the best way to deal with the emptiness/hole/void/heavy burden feeling quest that there must be more to life.

AHA MOMENT:

We don’t have to compete or rain on someone else’s parade. If we can bring added value to someone else’s parade – let’s all walk with umbrellas just in case it rains. The world becomes a nicer place when we hold umbrellas so others can walk over the puddles.

Protect our hearts from any form of greed. Life is not defined by what we have, even if we have a lot. When we die, who gets all the things we have stepped on others for? Greed is selfishness clothed in jealousy and pride. It doesn’t lessen the heavy burden within us that there must be more to life.

Those who truly fear and honor God walks in wisdom. They know their days are numbered and they look out for others who wouldn’t be able to return their favors. Your giving makes room for you. Everybody has something to give. A cup of cold water can save someone who’s fainting. A smile can start a conversation with someone who is hurting.

Mute the voices of people’s opinions. If they speak well of us, it will feed our pride, and that’s not healthy. Pride is a setup towards a downward spiral. If they speak ill of us, it will cause our hearts to faint, and that’s called stress. So skip the lineups, and go after doing what is right and minding your own business.

See that we approve ourselves to God and our own conscience, and not to our ego. We are here today, and gone tomorrow. The status in life, the credentials, the followers, the likes, the noise of the cheering committee will all fade away with the passing of time. Another generation comes up and replaces our status.

If we can help one person then our living will not be in vain. Life is too short not to be real with those God has placed around us. Laugh when you can because every single person is struggling with an emptiness.