Saturday, August 19, 2006

On Ecclesiastes, the Future, Control, Worrying and Creepy Stalker Boy

I'm still alive... just trying to sort some things out, which means spending more time doing other things and less time blogging. Gotta love the vagueness, but sometimes it's necessary.

Some of us have been reading through Ecclesiastes together, and a couple of verses were particularly enlightening: chapter 8, verses 6-8.

"For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him. Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death."

Assuming that these verses are true and that I myself am included in "no man", then there's no way for me to know the future, and no way for me to completely control everything. This doesn't mean I can shirk responsibility, go passive, or slip into apathy... but it does mean that there are things I simply can't know and can't control. I've thus decided to make a very deliberate and conscious effort not to worry, stress or freak out about certain things.

Sure, no man can know the future or have power over the wind or the day of his death. But I'm going to take a leap and say that God knows this kind of thing. I'd also say that He has pretty much everything under control.

*takes a deep breath and slowly exhales*

On a lighter note, I learned yesterday that Stalker Boy is going to be in town this weekend. And he'll probably be floating around my street and the church... which poses a problem, as I want/need to play the piano today. After much debating, I've decided to take the risk and venture to the church. I shouldn't let silly boys control how I spend my Saturday afternoons, even if they are under the Creepy Stalker Boy Category.

2 comments:

Sarah D said...

If you're an iTunes kinda girl, I can recommend a sermon series at my church in Dallas (the Village Church) that is podcasted every week. Our pastor is currently going through Ecclesiastes and it is most definitely changing my life. I thought you might find it encouraging as well, so here's the link:
http://www.thevillagechurch.net/podcast/index.html
(click where it say "Sermon Audio Podcast")

Hope you enjoy this as much as I am! :-)

Mary Elizabeth said...

Thanks! I'll definitely check it out. Eccl. has been a favourite book of mine since the first time I read it... I've never heard a sermon on it, though. :)