Building Relationships We All Desire

Verses:  Ecclesiastes 6:1-12

My thoughts about the verses:

How many of us have found that we have worked our whole life and have not enjoyed what we have accomplished.  We discover that we have gained so many things yet we didn’t enjoy what we had.  Everything that we did gain was at a higher lost.  We have spent our life working so hard that there is no reward for us.  We thought we enjoyed it but we realize that we had worked so hard getting things that we never truly enjoyed it.

How many of us have a family and instead of enjoying being with them we work hard to get them things.  We try to make sure that they have the best of everything.  Yet, we miss giving the one thing that they need.  You miss giving yourself the one thing that you need.  What is that one thing?  What we miss is forming a relationship with our loved ones.  It is like we are buying them even though all we want is for them to have the things that we think they need and want. 

I am reminded of the movie “The Toy.”  It is a story of a young boy who has a very wealthy father.  The young boy can have everything that money can buy.  On a shopping trip he buys his dream “Toy.”  He chooses a man that he can spend time with.  We come to realize that he does this because his father is so busy making money and working that he doesn’t have time for his son.

Imagine how sad it would be to feel that you would have to literally buy someone to fill your need for a relationship.  How many children feel that same way?  We have to realize that it isn’t the things that we have that will last.  People do not remember us for what we give them.  People remember us for what we do with them.

Think back to your own childhood.  What positive memories do you have?  Do you remember that time that you had help with a school project?  How about the time you went of town on an unexpected trip?  How about the time that your parents through you a party that your friends still talk about?  I know I remember all these times and more.  I can’t remember all the things that my parents bought me.  What I do remember are the trips, the parties, the time we spent together. 

This is what the writer is trying to explain to us.  If you do not enjoy life you are living a life full of vain.  Just think about this a moment.  Do you work so hard getting the best of everything that you don’t enjoy life?  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could take that extra day off and just enjoy being with your family and friends?  We need to evaluate our life and see what kind of legacy we are leaving behind.

Are we teaching our young that they have to make sure the next generation has everything or are we teaching them to build relationships?  We need to look at our life and see if we truly love what we are doing.  Are we building lasting relationships?  We need to learn to enjoy what we have.  We need to build lasting memories for those that we surround our life with.

This goes one step further that the relationships that we create with our friends and family.  We need to build a relationship with our God.  We need to realize that our God loves us and wants to be our best friend.  We will never have anyone in our life that will be closer to us if we allow Jesus to be our friend. 

Yet, how many of us are so busy trying to be perfect that we do not build our relationship with God.    We get it in our heads that we have to do good things to have a relationship with God.  We think that we have to work to gain the right to have a relationship with God.

The truth is that all God wants is us to trust in the Most High.  We only have to ask Jesus in our heart to have a friend for life.  We don’t have to work to get the right to have a relationship with the Savior.  We don’t have to be perfect to have the gift of the perfect relationship with God. 

Those that have Jesus in their life will find joy in their life.  Even when they are going through hard times they will have the comfort of God.  When you have Jesus in your life your other relationships change.  You learn that you don’t have to buy love.  Instead all you have to do is show love.  When you show love to others you will find that you will receive love back.  You will also find that you will have better relationship with your family and friends.  Having God in your life is the only thing that you will take with you when you past away. 

Therefor the one thing that we need to do is to ask God in our life.  We also need to remember that the only thing that people remember when we live this world is the relationship that we had with them.  It is important now to start working on those relationships so that you can leave behind a true legacy.

Prayer:

We praise you God for you love.  We thank you God for being our best friend.  Help us build loving relationships with our friends and family.  Help us accept your free gift of love.  In the name of the True Friend of Love we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you built a relationship with God?  Have you created memories for your love ones to remember you when you are gone?  Are you enjoying life?  Is today the day that you ask Jesus in your life?  Is today the day that you stop trying to get the best of everything and begin building lasting relationships and memories?