Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash
Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, during all your brief, pointless life. God has given you your pointless life under the sun. This is your lot ⌞in life⌟ and what you get for the hard work that you do under the sun.
Whatever presents itself for you to do, do it with ⌞all⌟ your might, because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or skill in the grave where you’re going. (Eccl 9:9-10 GW) [context– Eccl 9:7-12]
Expectations make potential a burden
“She has great potential!” How many times has this been said about someone who never quite lived up to expectations? Too often to count.
Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, is credited with saying, “There is no heavier burden than an unfulfilled potential.”
Telling someone they have great potential is like hanging a heavy chain around their neck. It easily becomes a sentence of vague but overwhelming expectations.
How does anyone live up to what is not and cannot be defined?
Sadly, the expectation of potential is common in many spheres of life—athleticism, creativity, intelligence, and career opportunities are just a few.
When saddled with some vague possibility, how would a person know when they’ve fulfilled their potential?
The pronouncement of having “great potential” is somewhat of a plague in our present culture. Projections and predictions are made about events, people, and opportunities as if their future can be determined ahead of time with calculations and probabilities.
Unfortunately, most of these projections and probabilities are doomed to failure because the expectations are far too high and unrealistic.
Many college athletes who turn pro are told “the sky’s the limit” regarding their career potential. But when they don’t become a superstar or accomplish certain milestones, they’re deemed a failure. This happens for musicians, politicians, scientists, writers, and in other fields or areas of expertise.
I remember being told by my parents and high school guidance counselor that I had great potential but just needed to apply myself more. The guidance counselor told my folks he expected me to “really go places.” Well, I did travel to many places in the world to do ministry but I’m pretty sure he had something else in mind.
I didn’t live up to all those expectations, whatever they were. In fact, I bailed out on them before I graduated high school. Along the way, I learned how to enjoy life in a simple way and do a lot of things no one expected, including me.
Insights
Once again, Solomon gives the advice to enjoy life and whatever work we are given to do in this “pointless life under the sun” (verse 9).
At first, it seems Solomon is encouraging us to set low expectations and settle for whatever comes our way in this life under the sun. As he says, “This is your lot in life…” (verse 9).
And yet, what he says after this advice gives a more complete understanding of what may seem simplistic and fatalistic.
The first thing to keep in mind is the immediacy of life and to live in the present. The problem with expectations and potential is their open-ended dependency on the future—something no one knows for certain.
When we value the future over the present, we overvalue what could or might be and short change what is.
Focusing on expectations and potential pushes us into making comparisons, which is a no-win scenario. It’s like trying to catch a phantom. Holograms are intriguing and video-conferencing is useful, but you can’t hug a hologram or a screen image.
Here is a simple observation and summary of what Solomon says in verses 10-12—commit yourself to do your best and don’t give much energy or interest to possibilities and personal potential.
The unpredictability of the future and the harsh reality of life under the sun is beyond our control.
If this sounds like a familiar theme or repeated thought, it is! We all tend to overlook what is basic and obvious for what is yet to be. But in doing this we miss what has true value.
Existential Reflections
The idea of enjoying simple pleasures in life each day reminds us to value life and the people in our lives.
Don’t focus on what others might have that you don’t. Appreciate and value those whom you love and let simple joys in your life fill your heart.
How can we understand and use the advice to wear white or “wear clean clothes,” and for our “head to lack no oil?” (verse 8 NKJV) It’s not about keeping up appearances but choosing to look good to feel good.
When my mom was widowed and in her 80’s, she would spend much time and effort putting her makeup on and getting dressed for her daily visit to Starbucks. While there, the servers would dote on her as she read, dozed off, and chatted with others.
This was important for her well-being. It was her social life and it helped her cope with growing old. If she didn’t get ready to go out each day, she was more likely to stay in her PJs, lay in bed, and be depressed.
A simple way to counter the monotony, routine, and sense of pointlessness in life is to look our best and do our best each day. Sound too simplistic? Maybe. But simplicity is a way of getting beyond the confusion of what we don’t understand and can’t control and not getting swept up in that confusion as it swirls around us.
Another dilemma in life under the sun is when we lack commitment.
Making a commitment to anything (or anyone) requires a person to overcome various hindrances.
What hinders you from making or following through on commitments?
Here are a few possibilities, perhaps probabilities—fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of missing out (FOMO), apathy or indifference, lack of confidence, laziness, negative self-talk, and even arrogance.
Whatever the reason, when we’re unable or unwilling to commit to do something or follow through on our commitments, it puts our emotional, mental, and spiritual health at risk.
Commitment to move forward frees us from the black hole of what seems like a pointlessness life under the sun. When we accomplish something and follow through on a commitment, we gain a sense of purpose.
When we have a sense of purpose in life, it lessens the weight of the expectations of others and lifts the burden of unmeasurable potential.
There may not be any guarantees in this life but there are some assurances, small mercies, and simple encouragements along the path of a life with purpose.
Goal-setting, expectations, strategies, and other focuses on the future can impede, overwhelm, and stifle us When we look too far down the road, we lose sight of what’s good all around us.
Often, the best goal is to just do the next thing and the best strategy is to do the next thing well.
At the end of any day with some small accomplishments, we can experience satisfaction, and enjoy and share this satisfaction with those we love and value.
What are some expectations you can abandon to make your life more simple?
Don’t complicate your life. Live it with simplicity and purpose.
Look your best, do what you can and do it well, and enjoy life as well as you can with those you love and respect.
This is an excerpt from my newest book available on Amazon! Glimmers of Light in the Darkness of Life
The Scripture text for this devotional study can be found by clicking the blue button link– “Ecclesiastes Chap 9” [I’ve used God’s Word Translation (GW) for ease of reading but the button link will take you to the text in a parallel version with the NKJV text.]
Also, for further commentary, I recommend Enduring Word by Ptr David Guzik.
