Ecclesiastes has been a favorite of mine for a long while. Maybe it is because so many in my generation see the vanity in the American Dream, or that we've seen people spend their lives "chasing after the wind" only to be monetarily wealthy but spiritually bankrupt. We've seen friends and neighbors crippled by credit card debt from trying to accumulate things as Dave Ramsey says to impress people we don't care for.
What we are craving is authenticity. We admire people who speak the truth when they say that they've tried it all like the author of Ecclesiastes, wealth, pleasure and knowledge, and without God it didn't satisfy.
Maybe the microhouse movement should take up this verse! I definitely see the beauty in simple living.
I love the visual of in the day of prosperity be joyful being and outward expression of an inward fullness; in the day of adversity consider being and inward reflection of outward circumstances.
I pulled this girl from a W magazine at a salon because I knew she could go with this verse. I changed the pronouns to feminine but it is truth for both genders. Have you ever known someone that literally their face shines? There is a lady named Patsy that I've known all my life that is so joy filled that even when you see her driving her bus route her face shines with the brightest smile. And if you happen to run into her in Walmart you will leave blessed having just been around her because her love for God pours out of every fiber of her being.
A woman's wisdom makes her face shine.
Ecclesiastes is as applicable to this present time as it was when it was written thousands of years ago. Everything will pass. Don't gossip. Evil is real. Enjoy your labor. Eat, drink & be merry. Live simply. Fear God. Keep his commands.
