OUR DAILY BREAD : A FLY'S REMINDER

[cimi]

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 21


A FLY'S REMINDER

READ:
Ecclesiastes 9:4
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Anyone who is
among the living
has hope.
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When I first began working in the small office I now rent, the only inhabitants were a few mopey flies. Several of them had gone the way of all flesh, and their bodies littered the floor and windowsills. I disposed of all but one, which I left in plain sight.

That fly carcass reminds me to live each day well. Death is an excellent reminder of life, and life is a gift. Solomon said, "Anyone who is among the living has hope" (ECCCL 9,4). Life on earth gives us the chance to influence and enjoy the world around us. We can eat and drink happily and relish our relationships (vv.7,9).

We can also enjoy our work. Solomon advised, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might" (v.10). Whatever our vocation or job or role in life, we can still do things that matter, and do them well. We can encourage people, pray, and express love with sincerity each day.

The writer of Ecclesiastes says, "Time and chance happen to them all....No one knows when their hour will come" (vv. 11-12). It's impossible to know when our lives on earth will end, but gladness and purpose can be found in this day by relying on God's strength and depending on Jesus' promise of eternal life (JOHN 6:47.
_____Jennifer Benson Schuldt

*********************************Today's Bible Reading __ Ecclesiastes 9:4-12***********************************
4 Anyone who is among the living has hope__even a live
dog is better off than a dead lion!

5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead
know nothing; they have no further reward, and even
their name is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their
jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have
a part in anything that happens under the sun.

7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with
a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.

8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with
oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of
this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun-
all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in
your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds
to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead,
where you are going, there is neither working nor planning
nor knowledge nor wisdom.

11 I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor
does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor
to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come
As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken
in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall
unexpectedly upon them.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Solomon's wisdom was legendary in his day
(1 Kings 4:34) and so was his pursuit of knowledge. First Kings 4:32-33
says, "He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered
a thousand and five. He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of
Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about
animals and birds, reptiles and fish." ______Bill Crowder