There is nothing new under the sun

I am going to be speaking at our church's upcoming women's retreat.  I have never done anything like this before and I am both excited and terrified.  My talk is sort of the introduction for the whole weekend with others giving other talks throughout the day on various subjects related to the theme I will present.  The theme is based on the post I did about the quote, "it takes so little to be above average."  I am feeling pretty good about what I have come up with so far.  I have significantly expanded on the idea from my original post to incorporate the idea of understanding "above average" to be defined not by the world but by Christ and our relationship with Him.  Who am I in Christ?  Plus talking about how we compare ourselves to others and set a wrong standard for oureselves.  More details in the coming weeks.  I don't want to give it all away before the retreat!

One of the speakers is going to speak on seeing God in the mundane of everyday life.  I am really looking forward to that one.  Yesterday as I was busy cleaning up the house for Isabelle's 5th birthday party and thinking about how the party would go I started asking myself "what makes what I am doing different than everyone else?"  What gives my life meaning?  I am certainly not going to give the best birthday parties, my house will never be the cleanest, my kids will never be the best, I will never be the best.  What makes my life significant?  Obviously the answer is my relationship with Christ.  Something that had been sorely neglected the past couple weeks while I was coincidentally in my funk/rut.

I can sort of relate to the writer of Ecclesiastes who said everything is,

"Meaningless! Meaningless!...Utterly meaningless!  Everything is meaningless."
and
"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." 

I just keep doing the same things.  Over and over I clean the floors, do the dishes, wash clothes, dust, vaccuum, swish toilets, make meals.  What has been done will be done again and again and again and again.  What is the point?  Where is the significance?

.Without Christ there is no point.  It really is meaningless.  When I focus on the Lord and seeing what I am doing as working for the Lord my life is rich and full of meaning.  I am fulfilling God's purpose for my life in all that I do.  When I wipe the mac and cheese off the floor I am worshiping and praising God because I am doing it in obedience to his call on my life.

There isn't a lot of enthusiasm in Ecclesiastes, at the end of the book the writer comes to a somewhat more positive conclusion, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."   But I know from experience that when I keep my life focused on Christ and view my everyday, mundane tasks through His eyes I experience far more joy and enthusiasm for life than I do when I work only for my own or others approval.