How easy it would be for our lives to be spent in complete futility. The book of Ecclesiastes underlines this point with repetitive thoroughness. Life can be so empty and meaningless; filled with activity that achieves nothing of any lasting significance; things that will be forgotten within a generation. And even if we achieve a great measure of worldly success, even this can be fruitless. Solomon, who is probably the author of this book, would know. He was as successful a king as any at the time. He amassed great wealth and achieved a reputation that extended far and wide. He had it all but, in the end, he realised that it was all meaningless. You fill space, you consume, you make a mark, you make some noise and then you depart. All this activity can come and go with little more significance than a dust storm on mars. The universe forgets you quickly. You are a blip in the huge expanse of space and time, a microscopic event to which this unimaginably vast universe remains indifferent. This is what your life is, unless…unless you step into the centre of God’s purpose. The summation of God’s law is fulfilled in love: to love God and others. The smallest act of love ignites joy in heaven that echoes through the passages of time and beyond galaxies. Love is the only thing that remains, and it remains for eternity. A small act of love is greater than the subdual of whole nations. Let your life become infinitely significant. Focus on small acts of love.
Reflect prayerfully on the situations in which you can love others more.
Read Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
