I attended a memorial service this past week. During the service, the minister (our own
Rick Cline) mentioned a passage in Ecclesiastes. The wise man, in chapter 7, says this: “It is better to go to a funeral than to a
banquet because that is where everyone will end up. Everyone who is alive
should take this to heart!”
At the first, this would seem an appropriate verse for a
funeral, and an appropriate verse if one wanted to cause everyone to be
depressed and sad. But that’s not the
intent of the wise man. His intent is
that everyone know and understand that from time to time we need to stop and
think…ponder our life, our existence, and our destination. It’s time for some quiet reflection on life
lived and what remains of life.
We are a distracted and busy people. We’re always going somewhere. We’re always moving. We’re always inundated with sight and
sound. Our minds are going in fifty
different directions. It’s like we don’t
WANT to slow down and think, ponder, and reflect. For if we do, we have to do some serious
thinking about life. Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?
Those questions…oldies but goodies…remain the basis for our
discovering the meaning of life. And the
fact that those questions are best answered during times of quiet reflection
lead me to ask you to set aside some time to just be. Just be.
No earbuds. No phone. No TV.
No ROKU. No noisy restaurant. Just be.
And while we’re “just being,” perhaps it would be a good
time to find God; to open the lines of
communication with Him. As the old hymn
says, “Take time to be holy; speak oft with thy Lord. Abide in Him always, and feed on His word.”
It can be a scary time; this time of reflection. It can also be some of the best use of time
that you’ll ever have. Try it.
