"Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might..." (Eccles. 9:10) From this simple statement in the Old Testament reading today, jump to the lakeside with Jesus and his disciples in Matthew 15. Here, after teaching the crowds, Jesus says: "I have compassion for the crowd because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint along the way....How many loaves do you have?" "Seven, and a few small fish."
A little bread and a few fish don't seem like much, but they are what's available and there are a lot of hungry people to feed. By this time the disciples probably know better than to say, "Hold on one minute, Lord. This isn't going to work. We probably should have planned this out BEFOREHAND so we wouldn't be in this situation." At this point a good round of blame-assessing would be in order (does this sound familiar?).
That's not what Jesus expected and that's what the "seeker" in Ecclesiastes has concluded either. If you make big elaborate plans, maybe they work out, maybe they don't. The simple approach is to just look in front of you, use what you have, and make the most of it.
Meditation: "God, we cannot know how something will come out. We do not have certainty in the plans for our days. Forgive our mistakes and false starts to make your will a reality. Stengthen us to continue forward, however, with the hope that when we find the right path and the right work, you will be with us helping to see it through. Amen."
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Daily office year two:
Eccles. 8:14-9:10; Ps. 61, 62; Gal. 4:21-31; Matt. 15:29-39
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