This time of year my mind hearkens back to when my parents would stop by Kenneth Calvert’s drug store and pick up several calendars so they would be ready to hang when January 1st would show up! The drug store, for decades, always had the same type of calendar. In fact, it was referred to as the “Cardui Calendar.” I trust this is the name of the company that published it. The calendar was always equipped with a weather chart for the year. Additionally, each page of the calendar always had a “proverb” or quote at the top of it. Many of those quotes have followed me into adulthood. One such quote, is “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” The quote seems simple, but we know life is anything but simple. The point is this, how we spend each day of lives eventually becomes the fabric of our lives. Metaphorically, piece by piece or thread by thread,” we create a finished product. Will we be satisfied with what we have created?
Scripture is packed with verse after verse regarding “time” and how we should spend our lives. We, of course, know how we spend our time is important. My mother used to say in her rural, southern Kentucky accent, “Time don’t wait for nobody.” James 4:13-17, here, we are reminded not to “boast about tomorrow.” Even in verse fourteen, it is highlighted for us that “life is a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” James directs our focus on what the Lord “wills,” not our schedule or personal timeline!
Right from the start in Ecclesiastes, Solomon sets the tone for us concerning “the vanity of life” in relation to our lives, toils, and our desire to stay busy. Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 says, The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after. I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered. I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.” And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
We see from these few verses, it would behoove us to re-evaluate our daily schedules to make sure we seeking to build a life that has Christ as the foundation, a heart for serving, and an attitude of seeking to spend our lives shaped by the Lord. Solomon closes Ecclesiastes out by saying in 12:13-14, Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgement, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.
One day will be a last day for all of us. Will God be satisfied with what we have created?
