Work stresses me out. Just did it again today as I was headed to write this post. So fitting and poignant. And frustrating. I know that when I allow work to overflow and affect other areas of my life that I’m missing the point. That I’ve lost my focus. That I am allowing my pride and my selfish nature to control my emotions and thoughts. Letting vanity reign supreme.

Ecclesiastes talks a lot about vanity, many times over stating that is like “grasping for the wind.” Several verses discuss this hollow pursuit.

Ecclesiastes 1:7 – All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full.

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 – Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them…my heart rejoiced in all my labor…I looked on all the works my hands had done…and indeed it was all vanity…There was no profit under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 6:7 – All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not satisfied.

Under the bright and cheery header of “Death Comes to All” it says in Ecclesiastes 9:11, 12  that:

The race is not to the swift,

nor the battle to the strong,

nor bread to the wise,

nor riches to men of understanding,

nor favor to men of skill,

But time and chance happen to them all.

For man also does not know his time:

Like fish taken in a cruel net,

Like birds caught in a snare,

So the sons of men are snared in an evil time,

When if falls suddenly upon them.

So, in other words, this pursuit of vanity is always in vain. It’s an empty, hollow, unresolved, meaningless voyage that has no validity or payoff or satisfaction in it whatsoever. Even with all that, it is so appealing and attractive. So dangerous. So easily turned destructive in times of prosperity as well as persecution. One more from Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 6:8,9 – For what more has the wise man than the fool. What does the poor man have, who knows how to walk before the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire.

Wow, that says it all. Knowing how to walk before the living. With purpose. With strength. With resolve. With focus. Not waging a never-ending battle or filling a bottomless pit. Not chasing the invisible. Not grasping for the wind but pushing through it.

A colleague of mine at work, who is having to deal with many of the same issues that are causing me to stress to the point I can feel my hair tingle and my face twitch, shared this passage with me (and a few other people) surprisingly enough in the middle of a meeting. I was happy to see God interjecting. I needed it. She quoted Romans 5:3-4, which states, “…we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

As with most things, it boils down to perspective. When vanity reigns, I lose perspective of what’s truly important, and I make mountains out of mole hills. I’m doing that in my head even as I type this. Tribulations strike, and instead of me examining what I can learn from them, I get defensive, or sad, or mad, or defeated, or depressed, or vengeful, or spastic.

If I were to be a poor man who knew how to walk before the living, I would respond much different to adversity and chaos and discomfort. I wouldn’t hold up success in vanity and grasp at the wind. I wouldn’t feel defeated when I feel like I’m losing my grip on the wind. I would fill my hands with what’s important and possibly even pass it around to those I encounter.

Work is work and will always be work. It is going to be stressful. My particular situation is only going to get more difficult in the months to come, so this will be a good test for me. If I can keep it in perspective, have a little faith and keep my hands out of the wind, I will not only save my own sanity and strengthen my relationship with God, but I will set an example as well. This is my new work.