When gladness meets need

Available for 28 days

Spiritual reflection to start the day with writer and broadcaster, Fiona Stewart. Script: Good morning. The book of Ecclesiastes offers a salutary meditation on the shortness of life. After reminding the reader that life is seasonal, with unavoidable times of goodness and difficulty, the writer concludes: 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. There is much more to life than what we eat and drink, and the jobs we do. There’s a familiar saying that no-one on their death bed ever wished to have spent more time in the office. Despite this, though, there is value in our work, and in the food and drink that we enjoy. Perhaps the biblical writer is drawing our attention to the importance of living each day with thankfulness for what we have, and purpose in what we do. The author Frederick Buechner writes: The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. Life is short, and is marked by highs and lows, but ultimately everything we have is the gift of God, and all that we do finds value and purpose in Him. When asked how to live a good life, Jesus replied that what mattered was to love God and to love our neighbour. When our deep gladness in the presence of God, and our desire to meet the needs of those around us converge, we have found the secret to living well. Father May we find that deep gladness in all we turn our hands to today, and may our efforts aid those around us. Thank you for your goodness to us in all seasons of life. Amen