Meaningless, meaningless

I just got back from visiting the Habitat For Humanity home site that my son Rusty is supervising. He has 15 students from Portland State that he is trying to keep busy. They don't have any construction skills to speak of. Their accomplishments over the last two days are probably less than what two good framers could do in one day. The students all feel good about what they have accomplished, and they have contributed their time to help people less fortunate. This is a similar problem to me as my experience at Koinonia farm. I really like efficiency and high productivity. When I used to build houses I would often tell buyers who wanted to do some of their own work on their house "You would be better off working at what you do and hire a professional to do the work". Still I had people taking time off of their jobs and working on their house, usually doing inferior work and taking longer than it should, messing up my schedule. I can't help but think the world would run better if everyone would just do what they are best suited for, but how do you know what your field should be? Maybe one of those students will come away from their experience and revolutionize home construction.

I have recently started a study of Ecclesiastes, a book I find humorous and depressing at the same time. The "Teacher" says everything is meaningless. All of man's efforts, whether for industry or pleasure are "chasing after the wind". If he is right, then I guess I need to lighten up and not let other peoples efforts bother me. My father always used to say "a hundred years from now it won't make any difference" he's probably right about most things. It is becoming clearer to me that much of what we work for and spend our time doing is truly meaningless. I am not advocating that everyone just stop working, but maybe change our perspective. Work hard at what you enjoy, do good for others, spend time on noble causes, opt out of the "Rat Race".

This is still a work in progress, just keeping you updated.