Agony unto Eternity
From Ecclesiastes 3 – 9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
In his Heretics, GK Chesterton encourages us to expand our spectrum of what we see and speak of as poetry. He then describes the railroad conductor as existing in "an agony of vigilance."
So, then, we neither imagine the poetry nor a certain agony of stretching as we enter into the more ordinary-seeming aspects of our day and our week. The author of Ecclesiastes 3 guides us through such a sometimes awkward transition. Just as he, and The Birds after him, have been coaching our contemplations to consider history's big picture including a time for every macro trend, he comes down from the mountain with those of us who need to go to work and connect meaning to life's labors.
He seems to understand the implicit dissonance. He phrases the question for us frankly in verse nine. Compared to such sweeping trends as engulf our biggest musings, what does work matter? What do chores matter? What does the minutia of ministry matter? God answers such honesty on two planes. Earthly tasks have a beauty in themselves which can be easy to overlook because they aren't Heavenly and because they are repeated so often.
Then Ecclesiastes 3:11 pivots with a beautiful balance. Tasks which have at least momentary beauty all their own have recognized limits. God put, He says, a desire for something more in our hearts. This isn't an indication that we are malingering.
A touch of agony is an indication that work will serve its purpose in its season. The same impulse reminding us what our daily duties aren't which can drift into bitterness can point us back to our Creator and our fellowship with Him and work for Him which will never be interrupted. There is meaning, He says, we will never run to the end of.
In his Heretics, GK Chesterton encourages us to expand our spectrum of what we see and speak of as poetry. He then describes the railroad conductor as existing in "an agony of vigilance."
So, then, we neither imagine the poetry nor a certain agony of stretching as we enter into the more ordinary-seeming aspects of our day and our week. The author of Ecclesiastes 3 guides us through such a sometimes awkward transition. Just as he, and The Birds after him, have been coaching our contemplations to consider history's big picture including a time for every macro trend, he comes down from the mountain with those of us who need to go to work and connect meaning to life's labors.
He seems to understand the implicit dissonance. He phrases the question for us frankly in verse nine. Compared to such sweeping trends as engulf our biggest musings, what does work matter? What do chores matter? What does the minutia of ministry matter? God answers such honesty on two planes. Earthly tasks have a beauty in themselves which can be easy to overlook because they aren't Heavenly and because they are repeated so often.
Then Ecclesiastes 3:11 pivots with a beautiful balance. Tasks which have at least momentary beauty all their own have recognized limits. God put, He says, a desire for something more in our hearts. This isn't an indication that we are malingering.
A touch of agony is an indication that work will serve its purpose in its season. The same impulse reminding us what our daily duties aren't which can drift into bitterness can point us back to our Creator and our fellowship with Him and work for Him which will never be interrupted. There is meaning, He says, we will never run to the end of.
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