Meaningless or Precious - a bike marks the spot

""Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."

What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?

Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.

The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.

All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

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.

There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow." (Ecclesiastes 1:2-11)

For the last few weeks, I have revisited this passage in my thoughts and prayer time. Written by Solomon near the end of his life, it, along with Proverbs, is meant to bring a perspective granted by a lifetime of wisdom and experience. This particular passage is not tepid with bright and cheery bathroom reading quotes (and we all know we need more Vegetable Beef Soup for the Soul, Deep Moments Sitting on the Can edition). It conjures up images of an older man grabbing his zealous son by the shoulders and looking him in the eyes, hoping to pass on a value system that embraces more than the moment you live in. It is shocking in its breadth. It is not a "Don't smoke or go out with girls that do" or "Do as I say not as I do" message. This is gritty, raw, vivid.

After reading this, you are forced to ask the question, "If everything is meaningless, then what is valuable and significant in life?" If life feeds back into itself, and my moment on this earth will come to an end and feed into someone else's beginning, what does that mean about the significance of my life?

Solomon ends his cheery dissertation with this:

"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

The redemption to this closing statement is hidden for a few thousands of years until one of Solomon's descendants brings the punchline to his closing thought. It was here that Jesus, the man raised in Nazareth, said:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
So my prayer and thoughts today have been, "What is this treasure that is stored up in heaven? What will have value beyond this life? What is truly significant?"

We are granted an undetermined moment to convert oxygen to carbon dioxide on this sphere. On my way out to work today, I passed a bent bike, chained to a fence, on a busy corner. It would be quite easy to overlook. I have noticed it a few times, but never stopped to really look at it. It had been spray painted white and was lined with a few garlands of fake flowers and greenery. Hanging from the handlebars was a simple handwritten sign that simply said, "A Man Who Was Loved by Many, Died Here".

In my community, this man most likely lived below the poverty line. I may have passed him several times over the last 6 years. He probably rode the bike because he either lacked the money for the bus or a personal car, or he had DUIed his way out of a legal license. My community is majoritally minorities, which seems like an oxymoron. Either way, this man would have been overlooked by me and most passing him, as he rode his bike along the sidewalk. But, he was not overlooked by someone. He was loved, though now he is silent, at some moment he was an active part of several others' lives.

What was his mark? Who was he? Did he store up treasure in heaven, a life exchanged for those things held precious to God? Or as the bike rusts and someone from the city cuts the chain and removes it from public property, is that the end of his story?

On this planet, we have deemed certain combinations of molecules to be unique, rare, and having value. The gold standard is traded worldwide. Every woman in America expects a shiny lump of carbon as a token of marriage. When I lived in Papua New Guinea, the Kina shell was the original form of currency, and as they adopted a paper money standard, it was named after these shells. Is it the rarity of an item that makes it valuable or is it the item's intrinsic properties or sentimental value? Either way, we have designated certain materials as holding unique value.

My question is this, "What is heavenly treasure? What are the things deemed as unique, rare, and holding precious quality by God?"

Is it a moment of sacrifice or a lifetime of love? Is it a life that reflects the glory and character of God? When our lives are tallied, as Solomon mentioned, what will be tagged as being exceedingly valuable? I will close this with a passage from 2 Corinthians about transformation, but also about reflecting value. I believe this to be the start of an answer, a first clue on a map to a treasure hunt.

“But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” (2 Corinthians 3:16-18)