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-======  Prayer ... ======
+======  Meaningless! Meaningless! ... ======
-Thursday, Feb 14, 2019.
+Thursday, Feb 14, 2019. What is worth doing? What is of value? What is the driving force
+of ethics? Sometimes we believe that negation of all values is a modern idea. But it is
+not. If we look back 3000 years ago, we find basic thoughts already in the Old Testament
+books, the book Ecclesiastes, the preacher Solomon.
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-** Two-Way Communication ... **
+** Catching the Wind ... **
+Take some time to read the book where the preacher Solomon writes about life. Here is
+a passage from its beginning:
+<color #aa0000>
+The words of the Teacher,1 son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” 3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
+</color> (from Ecclesiastes 1)
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-**  ...**
+** Important Reminder ...**
+Solomon writes important things about life. Reading his words can help us to let go things
+which we cling to, but which are really catching the wind.
+When you search for meaning in your life, when you try to relate to something which could
+be of value, or which could be lasting, the words of Solomon are a sincere warning. Without
+the link to the creator, the eternal God, we are as the preacher describes it. The text
+is a very vivid description of our life as it is.
+Where do you find yourself in this text. Is it the toil and labor which characterizes your
+life? Is it the strive for innovation? The strive for new art? The strive for building
+up some business or company? Is it the effort to do politics?
+The more experiences I gain with life, the more I value the words of Solomon - and the whole
+biblical testimony. What could be a better description of mankind, of human desire and
+character?
 (Roland Potthast)
 [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/topics_collection_ix|... further texts]]