What can I possibly write about??

Ah, yes, the affliction of writer's block has struck me. It's not necessarily that I can't write as much as it is I can't get all the thoughts out into one clear and well written post that anyone might find worth the time to read (this is assuming, of course, that anything else I wrote might have been found interesting by anyone other than me). So, here I sit past 10 o'clock in the evening thinking that if I write about writer's block, perhaps it will help all those other thoughts swirling about in my head to collide together and create some kind of sense. So, this is my writer's block post, which may or may not be about writer's block at all. Readers, beware!!!

Side note for the male readers out there: it IS possible for the thoughts in a woman's mind to come out and make complete and total sense. God DID provide you with a companion's manual... it's called the Bible. My suggestion - read it!!

In offering some encouragement to a friend today I read through the first three chapters in the book of Ecclesiastes, speaking of that manual (okay, in keeping up with being ME, I just paused to read another 6 chapters of that book). Many of you may relate this book to the popular song "Turn, Turn, Turn" by the Byrds - "To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven." What caught my attention as I read today was how the writer is clearly at a pausing point in his life. He was at a point in his life where he was asking the big "Why" questions. Why do we work so hard? What is the point? He is struck by the fact that all the hard work and toil done by people is meaningless. "A chasing after the wind." The writer concludes that it is better for man to simply decide to be happy with his work. The writer finds that tranquility is so much better than to toil day after day, and that God can and will place that happiness in our hearts if we allow it.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 states, "¹⁸ This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. ¹⁹ Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. ²⁰ They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart."

Have we as a nation of believer's forgotten to sit back, be happy with the food and drink we are provided and simply enjoy life with gladness in our hearts? Do we even allow God the ability to place gladness in our hearts? I admit I am guilty of preventing the Father from placing gladness in my heart. "How?" you might ask. By simply not looking at the treasures He has placed before my very eyes. The treasures that are in my life every day, who may bicker and fight from time to time (okay, it's a lot more than that), but who can also look at me on a morning when I am feeling down and tell me that I am beautiful on the inside because she was just reading that in her Bible the other day. <3 That wisdom came from my 6-year old daughter and it really did come at a time when I was feeling the "toilsomeness" of life.

I am going to end this post here by simply asking you a question: Do you appreciate the work, food and rest God provides for you, or do you find it a burden? Do you allow God to place happiness in your heart? Perhaps it's time for you to TURN TURN TURN to God's word for the encouragement He gave me today.