
Upside Down Series
The Urgency of Joy: Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:8
The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly and lie about your age. - Lucille Ball
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. Henry Ford
Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter. Satchel Paige
I’m happy to report that my inner child is still ageless. James Broughton
The Urgency of Joy
7 Truly the light is sweet, And it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun;
8 But if a man lives many years And rejoices in them all, Yet let him remember the days of darkness, For they will be many. All that is coming is vanity.
9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; Walk in the ways of your heart, And in the sight of your eyes; But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment.
10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, And put away evil from your flesh, For childhood and youth are vanity. —Ecclesiastes 11:7-10
“He is a hedonist at heart. All those fasts and vigils and crosses are only a facade… out at sea, out in His Sea, there is pleasure and more pleasure… He has filled His world full of pleasures. There are things for humans to do all day long without him minding in the least.” CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letter. Pg. 95-96
Remember that Life is for the Living
1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”:
2 While the sun and the light, The moon and the stars, Are not darkened, And the clouds do not return after the rain;
3 In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, And the strong men bow down; When the grinders cease because they are few, And those that look through the windows grow dim;
4 When the doors are shut in the streets, And the sound of grinding is low; When one rises up at the sound of a bird, And all the daughters of music are brought low.
5 Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way; When the almond tree blossoms, The grasshopper is a burden, And desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home, And the mourners go about the streets.
6 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.
7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “All is vanity.” —Ecclesiastes 12:1-8