Recently, a friend lost an earring in our front lawn. Six of us searched diligently. Eventually we gave up.

Later that day, we made a dinosaur birthday cake for our grandson. After much effort to “get it just right,” we cut it into pieces!

That afternoon we toured our garden where tender plants grew under our care. We then ripped them from the soil to harvest baby potatoes.

Solomon saw these sorts of things and resolved that there are seasons for everything: times to search and give up, build and tear down, plant and uproot.

Solomon resolves that God “has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil— this is the gift of God” (Ecclesiastes 3:11,13).

Sometimes when I consider how life is turning out, I feel sad. When I share this with my wife she wisely responds that God is not done writing our story nor our family’s. And in that, I find satisfaction in the hard work we have done — a gift from God.

Do you feel similarly? Can you accept that seasons of life provide opportunities to find God’s gift of contentment amidst trying times?

Dear God, Sometimes it is hard to know what you are up to. At times blessings and trials seem to cancel the other out. Help me to rest in your good gift of hard work that is satisfying, and in simple pleasures such as tasty meals and stable relationships. You have given so much to me.

Throughout This Day: Seek to find peace in every moment, thanking and praising God for all the blessings he grants.



Tags: Daily Devotional Ecclesiastes 3
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