A Sobering Point Of View

 Ecclesiastes 1: 2, 9-10

1 The words of the Teacher,^[son of David, king in Jerusalem:

² “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
    says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
    Everything is meaningless.”

  ⁹ What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there anything of which one can say,
    “Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
    it was here before our time.

While efforts to adjust our lives to the restrictions of the pandemic, these verses from the Book of Ecclesiastes hit us right between the eyes and perhaps even cause a bit of depression.  The old translation , "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" takes on a new depth as "meaningless, meaningless...". Sobering, to say the least.  Where do we go from here?  True there is nothing new under the sun, from one point of view, but with the presence of Jesus among us, there IS something new, there is hope, there is confidence that all is NOT meaningless, and despair is not an option.  From the days of the Roman Martyrs to our current day, Jesus has inspired heroic feats of love and loyalty,  and incredible gifts of "self" and life. May we not let petty annoyances nor difficulties blur the larger picture, but allow hope to conquer despair, and optimism eliminate pessimism.

Bro. Rene