Ecclesiastes 11:1 "Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days..."

Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what evil may happen on earth. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. He who observes the wind will not sow; and he who regards the clouds will not reap. (Ecclesiastes 11:1 (RSV))

Comment:

The third-century BCE author of Ecclesiastes, known as The Preacher, is much more a philosopher than a theologian. He brushes aside the beliefs and reassurances of the Hebrew religion of his time to focus on the dangers and uncertainty of life. “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity,” he begins (1:2), and proceeds to describe how uncertain, unfair and unknowable life can be. And yet, through the use of logic and inner knowing rather than religious faith, he ends by affirming that, despite its challenges, life is infinitely worth experiencing. Nothing is certain, he says, no effort is guaranteed a positive outcome; but it’s important to make the effort anyway. It makes no logical sense to throw your good upon the waters in hopes of a return; but do it. There’s no guarantee that investing in seven or eight enterprises will bring a return on investment; but do it. We must focus on doing what we can and working with what we know. If we are distracted by the larger picture of what we don’t know—where clouds will blow, how trees will fall—we too will be paralyzed with fear and uncertainty to take any action at all. We will be afraid to sow, and thus unable to reap the results. So we do the best we can with the limited amount of understanding available to us. And we hope—or, as the more spiritually minded would say, we have faith—that the Divine Power, of which we are a complete expression, will guide us lovingly beyond the limits of our human understanding.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed