I read Ecclesiastes 1-3 this morning. Ecclesiastes often depresses me, with the numerous statements about meaninglessness. Even though I know now that “our labor in the Lord is not in vain”, and that there is a glorious meaning and significance to life, I still seem to feel the weight of the burden of a meaningless life (possibly because it was one I carried for a number of miserable months).
At any rate, I read the beginning of chapter 3, and thought of my son. “There is a time to be born” – a time very recent for the little fellow. Just after reading this chapter, I went in to check on him, as he had not yet woken up. I leaned over his little body in the cradle and looked at him as he slept, and my heart was pained to think of the grief and trials and hardship he will face in this fallen world (perhaps the rest of the passage in Ecclesiastes 3 was echoing subconsciously – “a time to grieve…a time to die…a time to refrain from embracing”). The question did not form in my mind, but the feeling was like, “Would it be better to never be born and have to face all of this?” And “Have we done him right by bringing him into the world?”
Immediately, it was as if the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “But…what if at the end of all this grief and pain and hardship is a glorious joy that will make him happy beyond all imagining? Is it not worth it?” And immediately I knew – it is. It is worth it. Praise Jesus, it is worth it.
Then I thought about the stories, how most stories – good ones, anyway – have a point where the hero goes through great trials, where everything is bleak, and things look grim and sometimes hopeless, but in the end it’s all worth it. I thought about C.S. Lewis’ The Horse and His Boy, and my favorite part when Shasta feels he is the most unfortunate boy in the world and is wallowing in self-pity, when Aslan begins to reinterpret his previous “misfortunes” with the statement, “I do not call you unfortunate.” (Is it not true that even The Story is like this, too, when Jesus is in the garden, then arrested, then murdered? This is probably why all other good stories are this way, because they echo The Story.)
So I went on my way happy this morning, fixed on the hope we have in Jesus, the joy of one day being with him in the new heaven and earth – the joy that will far, far outshine all the pain and grief and trials of this world. And happy because it is not just a hope for me or my wife, but a hope for my little boy. It is one we pray he will embrace at an early age.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)
