Live senselessness out of the way

“Everything comes to nothing.” So says the Teacher of Ecclesiastes more than a dozen times in this gripping book. Even worse, he says everything is meaningless. People everywhere are chasing after puffs of wind. People everywhere are catching handfuls of nothing. Goodness knows how many times the Teacher finds himself with hands full of senselessness in this life. Foolishness wins everywhere! In the same breath he knows life is unfair, because everyone has the same destiny, as we read in the first verses of chapter 9. But there is still hope. The Teacher finds meaning in surprising places. One of those places is the dinner table. “Eat your bread with joy,” he says no less than five times. In other words: create your own joy, but do it in God’s presence. Transform every meal into a feast with God. Welcome the Lord as honoured Guest and Host to your (life)table, so that every meagre slice of bread you share with loved ones and friends becomes a Royal feast. Meal for meal and visit after visit, you can side-step all the senselessness that is threatening to engulf you, in God’s Name.