Eccl
7:10 (ESV) Say not, "Why were the former days better than these?"
For it
is not from wisdom that you ask this.
NOTE: So, we do have
to be a little careful with Ecclesiastes since the first part of the book is
wisdom that Solomon gained from a human perspective. But in this case I think
he has captured a real problem of man and that is the "grass is greener on
the other side" syndrome. It reveals itself in multiple ways. In some
cases, it is the belief that what I have not experienced (future) is what will
make me happy. And it is seen (as in the verse) as a rosy view of past
circumstances as having been better than what we are experiencing now. That is
seldom actually the case, and if the person were able to go back we would find
that the person would then wish for the most recent experience or some other
experience, or even, as in the first case, the unrealized ideal future case. So
what is the problem? It is discontent. We have not learned the secret of
contentment. We have not learned to enjoy life as we are living. And so we wish
our lives away hoping for a day when we will reach our picture of happiness,
never stopping to enjoy or appreciate the present. In college, I wished for the
weekends to come. And then I wished for the long breaks. And then I wished for
the year to be over. And then I wished to start back up. And then one day, I
realized I was wishing my life away. The key lesson is to develop thankfulness
for what we have and what we are experiencing now. Make a list. Pray about all
the things that you are thankful for. Make a point of seeing the good in the
present. And look for the things that you can only experience now. For example,
your children will only be their present age this year. It will never happen
again. So appreciate that aspect of life. It may be hard but there are always
things to appreciate in life if you take the time to be thankful.
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