February Pastor's Letter

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens . . . I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. – Ecclesiastes 1:1, 12 NIV

When Gayle’s father passed away a few years ago we inherited his coin collection. Last winter, during some of the “blizzard days” I began to catalogue it. As I examined each coin, a growing sense of wonder filled my mind. I found myself daydreaming about who might have handled these coins when they were freshly minted and wondering at the world events which had taken place since the coins first began to circulate. Several of the coins are over 100 years old and carry a kind of mystical dignity that made me handle them with near reverent care. I imagined that the multiple owners of the coins each held and spent the coins with various attitudes: indifference, gratitude, surprise, hope. With each successive owner the fate and usefulness of the coins changed the moment they were spent, but their character and value were enhanced as they survived everything that happened to them.

As we move into the new year, I find myself reflecting that our lives are like the coin collection. It is precious because it was given as a gift. Likewise, our lives are precious because they are the gift of God. Every day we awaken to life’s obligations and challenges is a vote of confidence from God. Our lives matter and we can make a difference.

The coin collection also reminds me that though uncirculated or mint condition coins are more valuable to collectors, used coins with the scuffs and scratches of circulation are more valuable to dreamers and doers. A coin which has been encased in plastic to preserve its perfect appearance is a curiosity but a coin which has survived life’s nicks and bumps and passed through hands committed to the service of God is a treasure. Coins are meant to be spent and lives are meant to be used for God’s glory.

The Teacher of Ecclesiastes, presumably Solomon, lived at the height of Israel’s glory. His father, David, had subdued enemies and left him with a “newly minted kingdom”. Solomon had the glorious privilege of building the temple of the Lord and seeing the faith of Israel established in a permanent place of worship. He built beautifully and extensively during his forty years. But the beauty and the building to the glory of God and his own glory ceased to challenge him. He became a seeker of life’s meaning beyond the preserved and protected environment of Jerusalem. His answer was to find something to enjoy each day and do something beneficial to honor God.

Each day God places a “newly minted” opportunity before us. I pray that we will take each day’s joy and turn it into an opportunity to do good to the glory of God.

Dr. Phil

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