That is bad for the economy, but it is worse for those who
have taken a pass at gainful employment.
It is the ancient attitude of personal desuetude. Solomon, the King of Israel of antiquity,
wrote, “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all
is vanity and vexation of spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14) Has the spiritual wind that brings value to
life gone out of people’s sails? Or have
many stopped unfurling their sails?
Giving up on work, are they giving up on living?
Having seen it all, and explored and pondered life, Solomon,
the richest and wisest of kings, ruled Israel at its peak in wealth and
sway. Observing “all things that are
done under heaven,” he concluded, “vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour . .
.?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 3) Solomon presented a powerful case. He described the profound emptiness of the ephemeral existence he perceived. Generations of
people come and go, forgotten. People’s eyes are
not satisfied with seeing nor their ears with hearing. There is little remembrance of what was done
in the past, and what will come will be little recalled by those who come after. Man’s search for wisdom finds grief and his
increase in knowledge increases his sorrow. “There
is no new thing under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9ff.)
A cursory reading of Solomon’s Biblical book, Ecclesiastes,
has led some to regard Solomon’s wisdom as having soured on existence. A more careful reading reveals an inspired
wisdom that reaches beyond the world. Solomon
recognized, and hoped to cause others to recognize, that lasting value is not
to be found in the perishable things of mortality. He declared, “I saw that wisdom
excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.” (Ecclesiastes 2:13) He taught that wisdom was not to be found in
a focus on things under heaven, but in the things from heaven,
the eternal things. God gave us the
world as the school for us to prepare for heaven. A focus on the world itself is folly, nothing but dust in the end. A focus on the eternal,
however, can enrich life now and to come.
What are the eternal things? The scriptures resonate with counsel to make our life bountiful. In modern times, Jesus Christ offered an exemplary list of things that give us joy and meaning today and endow us for heaven. “Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:6)
The temporary and transient are provided to be harnessed by us
as we secure now and take with us what can be never ending. What is that?
It is all that can go with us beyond the temporary grave, such as our
family relations and the virtues that are developed in a family better than anywhere
else. I recently heard my daughter say
that being a mother is the hardest work she has ever done, and she loves it.
Solomon urged a rearrangement of our priorities from an
attraction to what would become inevitable vanity under heaven, to the use of
what the Creator has given us to prepare for living in heaven. “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy
youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt
say, I have no pleasure in them.” This
is what Solomon called, “the conclusion of the whole matter . . .”
(Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13)
The gift from Jesus Christ is to guide, preserve, magnify, and hold to every good thing which, if we will accept His gift, “without compulsory means . . . shall flow unto thee forever and ever.” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:46)
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