Don't live life spitting into the wind

​It's hard to imagine a king saying those words: I've seen it all in this world and it's nothing but smoke and spitting into the wind. But at the end of his life, that's what one of the wisest men to live was wrestling with.

King Solomon had indeed seen it all and HAD it all. In his words, anything he'd wanted in life he simply went and took it. And yet, as he was old and life was slipping away, he began wondering - what good was any of it.

Reading about King Solomon this morning - I have to look at my calendar. I have to look at my to-do list for the week. And I have to wonder, how much of it is smoke. How much of what I look to do this week will be spitting in the wind?

I think it starts with the question, what do I want out of this week? The only way it's possible to answer that question is if I'm pretty clear about the answer to the question - what do I want out of my life?

I think if we're not careful we can all get caught up in the Solomon life - chasing all that pleases us without stopping to ask if any of it adds value to who we want to be. Because in the end, I think it's going to matter far more who we are than what we have.

Solomon spent a life chasing it all, getting it all, and then had a chance to take a look at it all. He concluded, this was all a waste of time. This is all smoke and spitting in the wind. In the end, he could take an accounting of all he had, but he had no idea who he was.

What do I want? That is a powerful question. I think the more the answer is defined by "things" we can have here on this earth, things that have been proven over and over again to disappear without notice, the more likely it is we're going to get to the end of our life and feel exhausted from having hung out in smoke filled rooms and spitting into the wind.

For Christians, we shouldn't have to think about that answer too long. What do I want? I want to be Christ-like.

Some folks asked Jesus that once in a round about sort of way. What do you want out of life, Jesus? He said I want to love God with all of my heart and mind and soul and strength. And likewise, I want to love all of you like that as well.

What do I want out of this week?

Is it to be one dividend closer to retirement, or is it to be one relationship closer to loving everyone with all we have?

At the end of the week, I think one of those answers will leave us feeling like we spent the week spitting into the wind. Solomon's biggest worry at the end of life was that someone was going to get all of the stuff he'd worked for all of his life. It ate at him to the point he couldn't sleep.

Jesus, at the end of his life, a life perfectly devoted to loving other people, he said in his dying words to a thief next to him on a cross, today my friend you, and I are going to be hanging out in paradise.

What do you want out of this week?