I’ve been away for quite a while from my website. I know I don’t have a large following but I did see in my notifications that my site has surpassed 500 views! …I am sure 400 of those were from me though (haha). I don’t know where this journey, this website, will take me but I am trying very hard to recommit time to journaling my thoughts and sharing encouraging posts with the world – if there is one thing I know for certain it is that this world can always use an influx of good. So, if this is your first time reading – Welcome! There are a few other posts available for reading and they are from my cousin-in-law, Elijah. Please feel free to look around and come back any time!

I’ve titled this post “A Chasing After the Wind…” because I have been reading from the book of Ecclesiastes. I’ll be honest with you – I have skipped reading this book of the Bible for a very long time mainly because I have always heard that it is confusing and hard to comprehend. But, this time, after everything that I have been going through over the last several months I felt since undoubtedly encouragement can be found all throughout the Bible that there may be a vast amount of untapped encouragement in this book – after all, I have avoided reading it. Who am I kidding, of course, there was!

In life, it is hard to choose in general. Making a decision can be as easy as knowing milk is better with cereal than water but can also be as difficult as deciding if today is the best day to go out and forgive that person who has made your life a complete wreck. We long to learn of the purpose of all things before we make a lasting decision that will set out tomorrow’s pathway. We know that God gives us purpose. ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ‘ Romans 8:28

About the Book of Ecclesiastes

The Book of Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon, though he is not mentioned by name. Solomon wrote this around 935 BC.

Key Themes:

1. Trying to find meaning in life from possessions is meaningless.
2. Living your life and enjoying your work is a gift from God.
3. Connecting with God through faith and worship is the key to a meaningful life.

“What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?”

Ecclesiastes 1:3

Instead of just looking at the introduction to a book in the Bible and seeing that the book contains insight that is beneficial for everyday life – read it!

I stress very often about the need for folks to read God’s Holy Word but at times I fail to listen to my own advice. Over the last few months (maybe even longer) this rollercoaster of life that I am on has taken me into God’s word and when I passively let things around me have control I have found myself out of God’s word. Yes, I admit, I have deliberately been out of His word. I have so many Bibles but yet they will go days and weeks untouched. I used to think that if I surrounded myself with Bibles that it would help me to pick it up and read but it isn’t the act of surrounding ourselves with something to interact with it instead it is the desire to do what you need to do that gets you in where you need to be.

You see – it is easy to surround yourself with the wrong crowd, the wrong objects, the wrong ideas and go along with it and DO it – all because doing the wrong thing is so easy. When it comes to doing what is right for you in God’s eyes it takes willpower, initiative, and devotion. Doing what is right is hard. Just look at the focal verse of this very website – John 16:33 – in this world, we will have trouble!

Let me encourage you to stand up against what is tough. If it is struggling to get up out of bed in the morning, take a deep breath, thank God, and get up. If it is picking up the Bible and reading a passage or spending a set amount of time – take a deep breath, thank God, and do it. Then repeat it.

Let me pray for us…

Dear gracious heavenly Father. You are the almighty, bountiful, caring, devoted, everlasting, faithful, grace-giving, healer, intelligent, just, kind, loving, merciful, nurturing, omnipotent, patient God. You are above all. Your mercies are new each day and your love for us never runs out. You provide for our every need. You listen to our wants, our cries, our praises. You are there when we feel all alone. You see us in our struggles and see us in our best. You guide us through every season for our good and for your glory. We ask for you in our good and our bad. To be with us at all times. Bless us as we go about our days as we chase after you and devote our lives to you. Thank you for all that you have done and are doing in our lives each day. Thank you for keeping us from harm’s way and thank you for loving us even when we stumble. Our prayers fall short of fully glorifying your name but we will continue to pursue you. We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, and for his sacrifice. We thank you for his death and resurrection and we praise Him above all names as he lives eternally with you. Thank you, dear Father. In Jesus’s name. AMEN.