Ecclesiastes 3

Ecclesiastes 3:9-10 "What gain has the worker from his toil?  I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with."

      Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I know it has been quite a while since I have posted on here.  Life just seems to fly by.  Between owning a house, work, and helping people with their projects, I have been on the go non-stop lately.  I am trying to get all the projects around my place done before the snow flies.  I got a small shed moved and my wood stacked inside, yard cleaned up from summer stuff, chicken coop fixed up for winter, and garage semi organized.  However, I still need to cut down a giant tree in my front yard, insulate and sheet the garage, then really organize the garage, get my tractor going and moved home, and clean the pine needles out of the yard again.  Plus I am trying to get out to the bow stand whenever life lets me.  I have been out a few times and have even seen some deer, but haven't gotten any shots yet.
    Work is going good, but is definitely busy.  I have my same two small group Bible studies from last year started back up again, am teaching new member classes, started a men's Bible study, am helping with college ministry, planning monthly events for my young adult group, on top of preaching, helping with youth, etc.  I love how active our church is and how there is stuff going on all the time, but it definitely takes time to keep up.
     Then lately I have been trying to help a few friends accomplish their projects as well.  I went with my friend Jeff to finish siding his shack out in the woods.  This last weekend I helped a family from church shingle their house.  I stripped the whole thing Friday and then we spent Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and Monday afternoon laying the new shingles. We finally got it done last night.  Everyone was giving me a hard time because I did fall off the roof while working.  For those of you who don't know, I have a history of falling off roofs and ladders.  I landed on my rear end (softest landing I could hope for), bounced, and got right back up.  I have small bruise on my cheek but other than that have not had any pain or side effects.  My angels were definitely with me.  My senior pastor told me one more strike of getting hurt or going to the hospital and I am done.  Had kind of a rough streak here lately.  However, other than stiff and sore legs just from the physical demands of roofing, I feel great and am ready for the next job.  Speaking of next job, we have to redo one of the sheds at church, but that will all be done from the ground.
     It is easy to get so busy with life that we forget why we are even doing it or the point of it all.  In Ecclesiastes the question is what does the laborer gain from his labor?  It is easy to question is all of the work worth it?  However, the very next line is talking about the work God has given to us.  God gives us all work to do.  Now we can't lose sight of the big picture of our salvation or family or other truly important things, but working hard to accomplish what needs to be done is necessary too.  So work hard, be productive, cross off those projects from yours or friends' to-do lists, but don't forget to make time every day for your relationship with God, your relationship with family, and your sabbath rest for both the rest of your mind and body.  I hope that makes sense!  God bless you all.