God's Glory Church

“And I praised joy: that there is no good for man under the sun, except to eat, and drink, and be merry.” — Ecclesiastes 8:15

Every spring in Japan, the sweet-smelling cherry blossoms flood the entire country with exquisite pale and bright pink colors, delighting the senses of both residents and tourists. The ephemerality of flowering cultivates in the Japanese an acute awareness of the need to enjoy beauty and fragrance while they last. The Japanese call this conscious pleasure something that changes quickly, “mono-no aware.”

It is human nature to seek and continue the feeling of joy. However, the reality that life is riddled with difficulties means that we must develop the ability to view pain and pleasure through the lens of faith in a loving God. We should not be overly pessimistic, nor should we create an unrealistically “sunny” outlook on life.

The book of Ecclesiastes offers us a useful model. Although this book is sometimes considered a catalog of negative statements, the same King Solomon who wrote that “everything is vanity” (Eccl. 1:2), also encouraged his readers to find joy in the simple things of life, saying: “And joy I praised: that there is no good thing for a man under the sun, except to eat, and drink, and be merry” (Eccles. 8:15).

Joy comes when we ask God to help us “know wisdom” and learn to see “every act of God” (vv. 16-17), both in beautiful periods of life and in difficult ones (Eccl. 3:11-14; 7:13-14), knowing that neither is permanent on this side of heaven.

What stage of life are you in now? How to find joy in it?
Dear Father, thank you for being the source of beauty and joy in my life.
Author: Kirsten Holmberg