Meaninglessness

All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.

(Ecclesiastes 1:7 ESV)

“But the sea is never full.” This has been sitting on me for a few days now. For centuries, nay, millennia, the streams and rivers of this earth have fed the seas, and yet, we still have dry land. We still have our same continents. Not a single nation has been consumed by an ocean. Millions of lives have come and gone, but still the rivers and streams flow to the sea, and still the ocean is held in abeyance to the shore.

The message of Ecclesiastes can be greatly misconstrued. King Solomon says, in a nutshell, that everything you can want or do is meaningless or has already been done. For some this can be a depressing ideology, for others, it can be an excuse for inaction, but ultimately, what I’m gleaning from this is that we, more often than not, endeavor after meaningless things.

We work extra hours to impress a boss. For what, a three percent raise and delegation of more work? We buy clothes or cars or things to attract or appeal to other people or based on popular advertising. For what, an invite to a party or some casual sex at the expense of increasing debt that requires more work and higher wages paired with even more stress? We buy a bigger house, to hold more stuff, to entertain more people, to appear more valid and relevant and interesting, while neglecting those closest and nearest us who have simpler and purer needs and needn’t be fooled into loving us because they already do. And, for what?

The sea is never full.
The sea is never content.
The sea is never happy.

We can start to feel as if everything we do is utterly meaningless, and it can be argued that it is, but if not for the ever thirsty oceans and the ever stubborn shores, you and I would not be here. If just once, the Pacific or the Atlantic said, “enough,” life as we know if would be dramatically altered. So let our actions, as meaningless as they may seem, have meaning as best we can assign them. Observe action, question intent, and adjust where necessary.