Another Never-Ending Story

I grumbled to myself as I yanked on the sleeve of one my favorite shirts, trying to liberate it from the staticky grasp of its linen compatriots. I didn’t have to see all of it to understand that the oily stains remained. This was my third time washing it. I had even used that crap that comes in a stick, but has a little ball on the end that rolls it on.

Oh well, I’d throw it in with the next batch and the batch after that and even the batch to follow that if it came to it. There would always be more laundry. If the stain didn’t wash out, I’d wear it out and expedite the process in the agitations of a washing machine and dryer.

There’d be plenty of time for that stain to disappear, because laundry is one of those things that the preacher calls vain in Ecclesiastes. I know that you won’t find that specific word in there, but it’s implied, believe me, I’m in seminary. He also thought of dishes, taking out the trash and dusting. Any bachelor knows about all but the last of those particular chores. I accidentally discovered it when I asked my mother what the deuce she was doing wiping the mantle off one day. I still regret it.

Cynical statements espousing the cyclical nature of particular events begin one of my favorite books of the Bible. If one makes it several chapters past the introduction, they’ll discover that the preacher has an affinity for finales. (Eccl. 7:8) This desire for denouement carries with it similar sentiments as does chapter one. At least he’s consistent, but we have a God of intentions, so can we find something that isn’t devoid of meaning . . . that is, as the preacher indicates?

If one examines 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3, they’ll understand that love has to be the backbone of anything to give it substance. Rivers flow to oceans that never fill up. The Earth circles the sun, but that’s been going on for a long time. Dirty socks and dishes reproduce when nobody’s looking, and all of this is meaningless. These events have no place for love in them, rendering them vanity according to some. Their ends will be noted when they happen.

Those things which find their support in love, do they have to end? Does love someday stop and will that end be better than its beginning? Of course not because God is Love (1 John 4:8) and God has no end (Deut. 33:27).