"Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth..all things are vanity! ...There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them."
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 11
I will admit it. I have a tote in the crawl space filled with photo albums of people I don't know. They are ancient relatives of my mother's and the tote has followed me house to house to townhouse for most of my adult life. And I still don't know who the people are behind the grainy, serious stares. My mom probably told me who they were at one point, but I can't keep them straight now. So what's the deal with Qoheleth, in today's reading? Why so grumpy? So hopeless? It's easy to see that we can get caught up in the hamster wheel of everyday life and yes, it can see like rather useless toil. I feel a bit sad that one day I will be a nameless face in a photo in a future generation's crawl space. I get that, but I also get something bigger. Each one of us and each person in photographs is the beloved of God. I may not know who they are, but God certainly knows them, inside and out. And God purposefully and carefully chose them to be my ancestors and their DNA flows through me today and my children, too. And, far from being useless vanity, that seems quite stunning to me. Today, let's thank God for all who have gone before us and realize that their lives led to our lives. They are the beloved of God and so are we! Sounds like a party to me...love, heidi
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