The Dreaded Bus

The day finally came: we finished up the book of Ecclesiastes.  Every session I've (Liz) lead for the past, um, decade- ok, fine, maybe not that long- has been portions of this book.  We had gotten to about Chapter 5, and had found  the theme of "meaninglessness" to feel, well, meaningless.  Some of our friends come through the store looking for hope and peace and a light at the end of the tunnel.  The book of Ecclesiastes does offer this, which is why I felt it so relatable- good, bad, hopelessness and hope- but it takes so long to find it.  So we skipped over half of it and hopped right to the ending.  Might just be my impatience shining through, but it seemed appropriate.

We looked at the passage starting in Chapter 11, ending with the final thoughts in 12, and looked at both the NIV and the Message.  We began discussing what some things were that seemed meaningless from day to day.  We talked about money, aggravations, jobs, and the city bus.  It's funny how God teaches us things through overtly mundane daily interactions.

We told a story of Adrian, the son of James who owns the Not Just Coffee Shop next door (soon to move, by the way).  Adrian had a wonderful sitter who decided a great "urban adventure" would be to take the city bus to the light rail!  Oh the joy!  Well, to a 4 year old, at least.  Adrian hopped the bus, beaming from ear-to-ear, never having experienced anything so glorious in his life!  His sitter Kaki noted, however, that everyone else had on this "shoot me now" face.

We wondered when this happens.  We have all these excellent blessings in our live- a bus system, legs to walk, cars to drive, food to eat, the list goes on- but we often feel alone, hopeless, meaningless.  One of our friends shared a story of waking up every morning, calling a temp service, finding there is not a job for the day and choosing to live each day for "my good and His glory" and determined that "while I'm not working, I can tell others about Jesus".  What an attitude!  Others shared more stories about jobs, bus rides, bosses, lost love ones and other things that plague our "meaningless" existence.

But it so meaningless?  The Message Bible translates meaningless to "smoke".  A fire is started, keeping us warm and lighting the area around it, begins to burn, turns into smoke which floats into the air and ultimately disappear.  Our lesson from this book is that everything in life does, in fact, have purpose.  It starts as a spark, leads to fire, and soon dies down into smoke.  We walked away today, determined to not make life more complicated than it already is and to live in the moment, as Jesus teaches us in the book of Matthew.  Our days are few and we have to choose TODAY to accept life as it truly is- a gift from God- and to enjoy it, even if that means smiling on a city bus.