S199P18 – Through Solomon’s eyes: recall what matters

Ecc. 12:6-7

Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Her character was aging just like all the other principal characters in the film.  I did not want that time to come for any of them, but I was sure that it would.  The scene was set normally, but then the picture slowed almost to a standstill.  Although coming upon the audience with no warning, it was still deliberate and dramatic.  She had been taking the peas out of their pods while watching a soap opera in the kitchen.  Then, the bowl of peas slowly fell from her lap and bounced off the floor, spinning in the air as its contents emptied.  That seemingly innocuous and accidental interruption in the maid’s daily chores was all we needed to see to know that her life had come to its end.

The symbolism in this passage is beautiful yet tragic.  We see a picture of things being whole and complete, the cord being tied and the wheel in working order.  We know, however, that these things will not last as they are.  The time will come when life here stops for each one of us.  That which had bound our spirits and souls to these mortal bodies will be loosed, and we will transcend this place.  These vessels will return to the dust from which they came and our spirits to God.  That event will mark the time when it is no longer an option to think upon the Lord and decide to follow him.  One day, the scene will end, and the screen will grow dim unto darkness.

Solomon spent years tripping over the idea in his mind that so much of this world just does not matter.  He had spent enough time thinking on the things below to realize that this world offers nothing that can save or satisfy.  Interestingly, he tells us to remember our Creator before that time comes.  This suggests that each of us, at one time or another, has been conscious of him.  Perhaps that is because creation around us alone is enough of a testimony to the one true God that no man has an excuse.  Father, we ask You to call yourself to remembrance in those who have forgotten You, to draw them to You before that day comes and it is too late.