The final part of Life is short: Enjoy it by David Jeremiah! Solomon keeps a heavy subject light — and downright funny. Isn’t that just what we need when we fret about fresh wrinkles? We need to take ourselves a little less seriously. We need a good laugh. Solomon gives us a poetic picture of getting older. Let’s work our way through this passage looking at the phrases he chooses: The day when the keepers of the house tremble. Those are your arms and hands. As we get older, they begin to shake and tremble more. And the strong men bow down. Knees and shoulders grow weaker, more frail as we age, bending and bowing and slumping. When the grinders cease because they are few. What are “grinders”? Your teeth, of course! We can be thankful for improved dental care, but we still lose a tooth every now and then. And those that look through the windows grow dim. Are you getting the idea? No one had spectacles in Solomon’s time; they had to live with blurry vision. When the doors are shut in the streets, and the sound of grinding is low. We can’t hear the old street sounds or the mills grinding away. When one rises up at the sound of a bird. Teenagers can sleep until noon, but that is a skill we lose as we age. We old-timers are up with the chickens. And all the daughters of music are brought low. Your voice starts to quiver and weaken. You don’t sing as loudly or clearly as you once did. When the almond tree blossoms. Your hair puts forth white shoots! Rather than informing your spouse you have spotted another gray hair, why not say, “Nice almond tree, honey!” The grasshopper is a burden. By summer’s end, grasshoppers lose their hop. They are more like “grass-limpers.” And desire fails. You can work this one out for yourself. (Hint: there are several lines of pharmaceuticals to help.) For man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets. This is referring to the unavoidable funeral and funeral procession. Solomon goes on in verse 6 to give us four images of what it is like to die. - It’s like a silver cord that loosens and falls away. - It’s like a golden bowl that plummets to the floor and crashes. - It’s like a pitcher shattered at the fountain. - It’s like a wheel broken at the well. Fallen. Crashed. Shattered. Broken. These are all images of lost beauty. Together their picture is heartbreaking. Then again, Art Linkletter once said that it is better to be over the hill than under it. Whatever life is for us, wherever we find ourselves in age or stage, every moment is a gift of God — brightly wrapped, waiting to be opened, admired, and delighted in. The bittersweet nature of loss makes the present more precious; knowing that the silver cord will one day slip away, we cherish it all the more while it is in our hands. We must not spend too much time brooding over life’s transience, for that defeats the very purpose. The time is to be used, to be invested in joy and meaning. That includes today. Go ye therefore and have fun! * * * Your Turn Are you enjoying your season of life?
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 17:48:17 +0000
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