Good morning…
I love walking with my friend who is a retired middle school english teacher. One never knows what fresh wisdom will bubble up between us. Here is a prime example. Discussing what she is learning from her study of the book of Ecclesiastes, she said, “I am trying to make peace with the effervescence of life.”
When is the last time you heard someone use the word effervescence casually in a sentence?
“Remind me what effervescence means,” I responded, and she kindly explained the word as life’s fleeting nature, life’s vapor-like quality. Later I found a verse that sums up just she was saying. Life is fleeting; it just slips through your fingers. All vanishes like mist (Ecclesiastes 12:8, VOICE).
“I thought effervescence had something to do with joy, exuberance, a zest for life,” I said. (Quietly my minded wandered to a jingle, Plop-plop, fizz-fizz, oh what a relief it is.) We both agreed that as we make peace with life’s fleeting nature, the joy of the LORD bubbles up like a breeze.
I shared my very favorite Ecclesiastes verse. Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends. The body is put back in the same ground it came from. The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it (Ecclesiastes 12:7, MSG). Having recently returned the body of her dear husband to the ground from which it came, she and I both fully trust that his steadfast spirit has returned to the God who first breathed it.
Together we summed up the bottom line of this intriguing book. So I recommend the enjoyment of life. People have nothing better to do under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy themselves. This joy will stay with them while they work hard during their brief lives which God has given them under the sun (Ecclesiastes 8:15a, GW).
My mind now returns to the best definition of “joy” I have ever met. “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things” (Kay Warren’s Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough). As we walk and talk weekly through this process of grief, our effervescent personalities bubble up like a breath of fresh air, releasing joy into the sorrow.
…Sue…
