Daily PresenceSample

Today’s first reading in Ecclesiastes made me think of a friend I worked with in the press box for our local junior college baseball program. This good friend was Mr. Fee, a personable fellow and tireless do-gooder who loved baseball and being around the college kids as sort of a “pawpaw” figure. He was fun to be around.

One evening as we visited in the press box before a game, though, the conversation drifted to spiritual matters. One of the redshirt players made a comment about his faith and asked Mr. Fee what he thought. Mr. Fee appeared bothered by the question. His expression soured into a bitter frown as he explained to the young man why hedidn’tbelieve. Mr. Fee elaborated, “Fellas, I fought in VietNam. After seeing what I saw and what people did in that war, there can’t be a God. Religion’s all about nothing. I don’t even want to talk about it.”

Mr. Fee’s statement certainly echoed “Vanity, vanity. All is vanity,” the opening statement in Ecclesiastes. But as we follow the Ecclesiastes narrator throughout this probing work of wisdom literature, we understand that the questioning is honest and searching. We also know that the Ecclesiastes Preacher’s poetic wandering will lead in the end to a soul-satisfying conclusion about God’s purpose and intention toward mankind.

So my heart breaks when I remember Mr. Fee’s pained profession of hopelessness. His story reminds us that we owe compassion to friends and loved ones whose bruises and wounds from life seem irreparable, who end up bitter toward God and without faith. The consequences of their giving up, sadly, are eternal, except for the hope that they’ll find grace. To that end, may the influence of our witness before these discouraged ones ever point to the hope that we know.

So now to end today’s devotional session with a more encouraging tone, I came across some thoughts about Ecclesiastes from St. Augustine. This sage Early Church Father offered a timeless recommendation, suggesting that we should not set our desire on the vanity beneath the sun; instead, we should “desire that life where there is truth and eternal joy under Him who made the sun.”

Amen!