“Look, Daddy! I’m all in!” yelled my 7-year-old son from the laundry room.
My wife and daughter were away for the weekend, and we were spending “man time,” as we like to call it (Don’t tell my wife, but that basically consists of increased amounts of TV time, aka “brain rotting,” no bedtimes, really limited personal hygiene, and lots of junk food.)
As I approached him I was speechless! I had asked my son to pull the clothes out of the washing machine and place them in the dryer. (Chores still need to be done, “man time” or not.) So my son, not to be deterred by his lack of height—and in an effort
to streamline the process of removing the wet clothes and get back to the aforementioned “brain rotting”—had climbed into the washing machine!
Upon seeing this I loudly barked, “No! No! No!” He scrambled out of the washing machine and picked up the clean, wet clothes he had dropped on the floor. (Again, please don’t share with my wife.)
As I left the laundry room I began to think about how many times I’ve complained about any kind of situation that I’m in: a job, situation, person I don’t like, a personal crisis I’m going through–any unpleasant thing. It’s easy to focus thoughts on
negative things, but the harder thing is to recognize that we aren’t God, and we don’t know everything, so we should just say one thing.
“God, I’m all in!”
Now, I’m not saying that we should go through life with rose-colored glasses on. The sad reality is that life on this broken-down, sin-scarred planet is, at best, difficult, but you and I don’t have to spend our time focusing on those difficulties.
So what does that look like in real life? Well, I’m glad you asked.
Solomon, the wisest man in the world, put all of life into perspective by recognizing that we’re all going to die someday. In light of this harsh reality, how should we respond?
“Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil. Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom (Ecclesiastes 9: 9, 10, NLT). The Message Bible paraphrase puts that same text like this:
“Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange for the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily! This is your last and only chance at it.”
While Solomon says that we should “live it up down here!” he’s not advocating spending your life going from one party to another, or choosing never to have a job—spending the rest of your days on some perpetual vacation.
No!
What he is saying is that it’s important—and OK—to enjoy and even take pleasure in your life. He reminds us that we should recognize that each day is truly a gift from God!
So whatever you choose to do in your life, go all in! Just don’t do it with any major appliances. I’m pretty sure that’ll void the warranty.
