Finding value, not vexation, in our toils

The past eight months have been a whirlwind of activity. Family, ministry, school and numerous community events had me in a tailspin. The worst crime is that I did not realize it. I noticed a mood change, the increasing inability to focus and feelings of being overwhelmed, but did not connect those erratic emotions to the simple fact I was in need of more sleep -- rest, restoration and recreation.

Ecclesiastes 2:23 describes a man who is spent on toil and consumed by the notion that someone else will benefit from all his work.

The verse reads, "For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity."

What is that this sorrowful text tells us in a positive light?

First, the man of Ecclesiastes 2 sought his value in what he produced, only to find it empty.

You are more than what you contribute, but how you contribute reveals who you are.

The most impactful and influential people are those who possess and reveal a wide love for life and variety of interests. Rest, then, making time for a restorative other, creates a better quality of life.

Second, how we go about our days says more than what we accomplish in it. It does not matter if one generates the most sales, closes the biggest deals and produces the most content if there is no joy in them. Eventually the absence of joy leaks into the work being done and the quality then suffers.

Third, the lack of rest steals the feeling of happiness that good things in your life can create.

This man's loss of rest is generated by the anxiety of joyless labor and, though not mentioned in the text, an unhappy life. Later in Ecclesiastes 3:13, the writer tells us taking pleasure in one's toil is a gift of God.

Yet for the man who is driven by anxiety, sorrow and joyless labor, it is the night and inner peace that elude him.

The writer of Ecclesiastes eventually comes around to find his value outside of himself and his activities. He finds his value in God. When we rest, we are forced to face the realization that we are finite; we cannot and should not do it all. We are fragile beings who need an unbreakable God in our lives.