If you’re having a stressful day, do yourself a favor:
    –Download today’s reading from Ecclesiastes.
    –Take it to a peaceful spot, preferably outdoors, and sit quietly for at least 10 minutes.
    – Read the passage SLOWLY.
    –Soak in the sun or feel the wind caressing you. Think how long the big tree has been there or when the leaves will start to turn. Think how long they’ve been doing this.
    –Meditate on the cycle of life.
    –Let peace to wash over you before you return to your hassle factory. 

When I was a child on the farm. I’d go out to the big yard on a summer night to stare at the infinite number of stars in the sky. How many were there? How long had they been there? How powerful and eternal was the God who made them!
“What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!” has already existed in the ages that preceded us. There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.”

Since I started trying to write this reflection two and a half hours ago, I have had four drop-in visitors and half a dozen phone calls.  We’re having difficulty getting the campus paper distributed. There are at least two or three different computer issues driving us nuts. I’m having trouble getting a speaker for a class. There have been forms to fill out and letters to sign. A key player is out of town for a meeting and the room for another meeting is booked. 

But it’s okay. Very shortly there will be “no remembrance” of any of this because as our psalm reminds us “ A thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past.” Deo gratias.