Ed, my neighbor next door, is off on a holiday - a Caribbean cruise. Ed and Ruby?s family gave them the cruise as an anniversary gift. Ed said, ?It is like being retired - nothing to do but eat and sleep and enjoy yourself. Best of all, the kids have paid for everything,? Ed gloated.
?I thought you told me you?d never be one of those middle-aged, boney-legged, white-skinned guys getting a sunburn by a ship?s pool. I also remember something about not being a tourist that the locals look at as a rich Canadian for fleecing,? I commented to Ed.
Ed ignored me completely and asked, ?The drinks on the ship are all free, aren?t they??
?Not on any cruise we have been on,? I answered. ?You?ll also need to tip those who serve you on the boat,? I added.
?They can?t make you tip, can they?? Ed demanded.
?They won?t force you, but I think you?ll see it is the wise thing to do,? I replied.
?I doubt that,? Ed said in irritation. He continued, ?The trip will be something to do. Right now, near the end of January, there is nothing much to do but chase your tail like a dog.?
?Some people would describe retirement that way also, but it is all year long,? I told Ed.
I?m waiting for Ed and Ruby to get back from their trip to hear how Ed enjoyed it. It seems to me we all need to eat and sleep and have something to do. Too much free time can be as hard to take as too much to do. On a cruise ship there are no meals to fix, no beds to make, no cleaning to be done. There are lots of things to do and they are all designed for your pleasure. Believe it or not, keeping busy at having fun can become like chasing your tail. Round and round you go to keep having a good time. Too much of anything puts us off balance.
Ed gets a lot of satisfaction in his life as a farmer. If he did not have his farm to go to a large part of what gives him joy would be missing. We tend to see enjoyment and satisfaction as coming from what we do and in part it is so. Yet it is not just about us; satisfaction and enjoyment of life are from the hand of God. We cannot find them and keep them without a recognition of God. The Bible says it this way, ?I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is a gift of God.?
Balance comes from God, for like the grave, the barren womb, the rain shower on the bone dry desert and the fire burning out of control we are never satisfied long and are often found chasing our tails. We seem to think life is eating and drinking and finding enough to do that satisfies us. Our minds get stuck on earthly things rather than God. The Bible shows that as we live, we are to live to the Lord not to ourselves alone for we belong to God. Satisfaction and enjoyment are God?s gifts to us for we don?t produce them on our own.
