Thursday 25 February 2010

Vanity and Striving After Wind: Thoughts on a 63rd Birthday

Part of a reading that happened to fall on the feast of my nativity this year:

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. (Ecc 9.11-12)

Verses which, I suspect, are not often cited by the Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospel folk. Real though. True. God's Word, living and active. An astringent word for those of us who struggle with ambition and the hunger for success.

I love this guy. He's the Monty Python of the biblical authors. Keeps us grounded.

It's good to have made 63, by God's amazing grace, with exactly the measure of swiftness, strength, wisdom, intelligence and knowledge He ordained for me. No more and no less. Blessed be the Name of the LORD!

2 comments:

  1. Blessed be the Name of the Lord indeed. It is good be reminded that the Lord did not promise us an easy ride, only that He would be with us through it all. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

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  2. Ecclesiastes is my favourite book of the Bible. I hadn't thought of it as being a Monty Python book, but now I'll have to reread it and look in earnest for funny walks etc.

    Congratulations on making 63! My turn this month, too.

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