“generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. . . and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.” (Ecclesiastes 1:4, 11)  These lessons in the book of Ecclesiastes helped transform my life and mindset years ago. . .  and still does.  Something about a good slap in the face from reality helps you make sure you’re not taking life for granted and sleep walking through life.

Yesterday I was out exploring back roads with my son.  We passed an old cemetery and decided to stop.  The sign said it was established in 1861.  We found the burial plot of a Civil War soldier and someone who (according to their head stone) had been born a slave, sold away from his mother at the age of one.  It was one of those moments that was filled with interest, reflection, wonder and a tremendous heart call to breathe in the air I have right now because it won’t always be there.

Between that and studying Ecclesiastes, I was reminded again:  this is my one and only life and it’s going to end.  Yeah, that’s kind of depressing.  But, nevertheless, true.  All of those people  with names marked on stones were just as real and full of life as you and I at one time. The end of their lives on this earth felt as distant to them when they were living as it does to us now.  Now, they are simple names, a couple of dates in a forgotten plot of ground in the back roads of Southern Indiana.  I left with an urgency to simply make sure I was living, not just going through motions and honestly, I started worrying about it. Was I doing what mattered?  Am I really drinking in those I love?  Am I giving enough?

Then, today, I visited an elderly woman who is in ICU.  Things could go either way in her situation. I read to her  what I often read at bed sides:  “so we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  I need to remember the limits of the vision of the writer of Ecclesiastes. He is as right as he can be about life on this earth:  It’s a vapor folks, get used to the idea.  Don’t act like you have time to spare and waste.  On the other hand – I can have urgency without worry.  I can know what matters and those eternal things can be lived in the simplest ways:  prayers, kind words,  loving actions.  It doesn’t have to be complicated and grandiose.  TODAY, you and I can live lives of vibrant  but peaceful urgency.  All we have to do is remember, life on this earth is temporary BUT, we have a promised eternity to keep our eyes on.