As I work my way through Ecclesiastes I found myself thinking this morning about a number of people I know in my life who are running the “rat race”.

From Ecclesiastes Chapter 9

“So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne!

Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil. Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.

People can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net or birds in a trap, people are caught by sudden tragedy.” Eccl 9:7-12 NLT

As I am aging, nearing mid 50, I know a number of people looking forward to “retirement”. Apparently, some fateful time in our lives that we stop working and sit around or maybe better said, begin to really “enjoy life”.

This, in my mind, is a western idea, promoted in the United States specifically.

I remember one day when my daughter was asked about retirement at her new job. The question was something like “What will you do when you retire?”

My daughters answer was along the lines of “Retire, what do you mean ‘retire’? In our family, in the flower business, we go to work every day, sell flowers. Then…we die.”

That’s pretty much it.

“Retirement” isn’t a biblical idea. I don’t support it.

At any rate, I thought about the people I know right now in life that are “working toward retirement”. How many times have I heard “Next year, when I retire” or “Man, I am missing out, I need to slow down some” or “When I retire, we’re going to travel more”?

Too many to count.

It grieves me some.

I see it in my own family. The older generation puts everything off because there’s always something coming up. Be it business related, health related, you name it. Something always seems to stand in the way of enjoying life RIGHT NOW. Always putting it off to some mysterious, ambiguous day in the distant future. There’s no time to enjoy grandchildren, there’s not time to enjoy children. Only time to work at the flower shop or go to the doctor (parents are getting older)…and so on.

Sadly, then life ends.

That’s the point of Solomon’s thoughts in the scripture above, in my view.

I think there are a few lessons in his writing that we can extract

1) Enjoy what you have right now. Don’t be foolish, don’t waste, but embrace what you have and enjoy it for everything it can be, right now. This will be different at different stages in life, but you can always find something you can enjoy, right now. VS 7

2) Take care of yourself. My kids now like to iron their clothes. Why? I like to iron my clothes. There’s something messy about wrinkled clothing…something lazy looking (one of the few things I DO NOT like about living on the road). I ironed all the time when they were younger. They now like to iron. Do your best to look your best, not like a sloppy fool. Use perfume and cologne. I love smelling great. Weird, I know, but having nice cologne just does something for my self assuredness. VS 8

3) Embrace and appreciate your spouse. They are a gift. Not a curse. FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE THE RELATIONSHIP MEANINGFUL AND ENJOYABLE. (see my previous post on Love Languages) VS 9

4) Whatever you put your hand to, do it the BEST you can. Even if you aren’t an expert, do it to your VERY BEST. Do it for the LORD, not for men. If you are not putting your best foot forward, you are short changing your life. There is joy in looking at something you have completed, built, repaired, made knowing you did the very best you could with what you had. Doing it half assed always leaves a sour taste, a nagging sense that “I could have done better”. VS 10

More importantly, for me today in this study is the fact that Solomon makes it clear that life is short and as we age, it will become less and less possible or even probable that we will be able to do those things which we tell ourselves and others we will do “someday”. That day when we get to that magical place we call “retirement”.

Solomon makes it clear as well that life isn’t fair. Most importantly, I believe, he makes it clear that you can almost be guaranteed hard times are going to come. So while you have the chance, you might want to consider doing the thing you LOVE…while you can. Because you see, a day may come, you might not be able to.

Jesus reinforces this strongly in Luke 12

Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’  Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” Luke 12:16-21 NLT

The title of this passage in the NLT, the version I read is Parable of the Rich Fool

Fool.

Of course, the fool part can be two fold. I agree, it is a fools game to live life void of a rich relationship with our God.

But I too believe it’s a fools game to “store up” for that fateful day of “retirement”.

I believe it better to die with little to nothing and have a wonderfully rich relationship with God, my wife, and the children with which I have been so blessed than to have a “secure” means of “retirement”.

This was and is very thought provoking for me today.

I’d like to share with you, in closing, the story of the Mexican Fisherman. If you haven’t heard it yet, you may appreciate it. I’ll be writing more on it later.

The Mexican Fisherman

One day, a businessman on vacation was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village. He looked out and noticed a fisherman rowing his boat to shore in the afternoon sun. The fisherman docked his boat and hopped out, resting his fishing pole on the side.

Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The businessman complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, “only a little while.”

The businessman then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The businessman then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a nice afternoon nap with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, señor.”

The businessman scoffed, “I am an American Investment Banker with a PhD in business management, and I could help you. You should spend more time fishing in deeper waters, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the money you make from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats; eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats.

“Instead of selling your catches of fish to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor and eventually own your own production plant for canned food. You would control the product, processing, and distribution of fresh fish to thousands of people. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA, and eventually New York City where you would run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But señor, how long will this all take?” To which the businessman replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, señor?”

The businessman laughed and said, “That’s the best part! When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.”

“Millions, señor? Then what?”

The businessman said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

rob out

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