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Enjoying Life’s Possibilities

May 6, 2024May 4, 2024 krisshetter

It’s been a great adventure studying Ecclesiastes with you! I hope you have enjoyed it — please share the series with your friends or catch up on what you missed. Click here for all of the Enjoy Life: from Meaningless to Meaningful posts!

I’m going to be completely honest with you, my friend. Today’s post was to be what the British call “a bit of a fob off.” You see, I had always planned to write the last look at Ecclesiastes after I returned from a 10 day trip to see my daughter and grandkids. With a five month old infant and a two-year old who is obsessed with every sport, it’s now too difficult to continue writing when I visit and take care of them for eight hours. Let’s just say this 59-year old grandma (Guga as I’m affectionately called) passes out from exhaustion about 8:30pm each night after a day of bottles, diapers, up and down the stairs, laundry, baseball, football, golf, hockey, and little bits of quiet snuggling in between. I love every single bit of it.

So here I was back home ready to jump in to the wise words of King Solomon. And I started feeling ill. After just a few days home I became so delirious and short of breath that I caused myself a full blown panic attack one night thinking I was dying. My husband managed to get me to the doctor where I tested positive for Influenza. I can’t remember the last time I had the actual flu. A flu that then turned into pneumonia — which is why I didn’t seem to be getting better. My hopes of feeling up to writing even a few lines were put way, way back on the burner.

But through the blessings of the Lord, I was put on new medications just yesterday. I now have a veritable neighborhood pharmacy on my counter. And although walking from one room to the next still seems a bit like I’ve tried tackling the 213.7 mile John Muir Trail with my friend Betsy, I can feel my body recovering. So instead of “fobbing off” and writing a placeholder, here I am through God’s providence, jumping into wisdom and life and the wonderful meaning of it all.

However, many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness,for there will be many. Ecclesiastes 11:8

You see, even in my darkest moments when I was really sick I was remembering some important things about this life. That I don’t know how it all works but God does. Ecclesiastes 1 reminded us that although we are made in God’s image, He still is the ultimate creator and has more power and knowledge than we can ever hope to amass.

Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.  Ecclesiastes 1:10

I also allowed myself to ask why God doesn’t fix things immediately at my whim or even pleading? Which, of course, reminded me of the famous Ecclesiastes 3 scripture:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens … a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, ³ a time to kill and a time to heal, Ecclesiastes 3: 1 & 2-3

After my 4am panic attack and my husband had calmed my breathing, I laid back in bed thinking, “Is this what it will be like in the end? At my final moments? Worried and panicked? Clawing to hold on to one more day of this life?”

When we looked at Ecclesiastes 9, we ran head first into the only truth no one can deny, no matter how hard they try. “The same destiny overtakes us all.” (vs 3). And yet we cling so hard and forget about the other truth the people of this world want to deny – we have hope for those who believe. We have an eternal place where God has a plan for justice. Where He has brought every single one of our loved ones, who also believe, to live with us forever and ever. Nothing left behind but sin and strife and pain and death.

My friends, if we accept that death is our future and as Solomon told us in verse 9:12, “No one knows when their hour will come,” we must take all that he says in wisdom in his last chapters 11 and 12 to heart.

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formedin a mother’s womb so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. ⁶Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. Ecclesiastes 11:5-6

It’s a message repeated throughout the New Testament. Know God, love God, trust God, obey God. We are not God and we can only know what is happening this very moment (and we can barely remember what happened yesterday!)

There’s a trend on Instagram where very talented photographers stop every day looking strangers on the street and ask to take their picture. The people (usually women) tell the photographer all the reasons why they are not worthy of having a photo taken of them. One adult woman with fairly new braces said she would start smiling once her braces came off. In what — two or three years? And yet her braces-filled pictures were gorgeous!

Are you waiting to smile until something better happens in your life? Until the right person comes along? The right job? The right bank account? That “happiness” seeking roller coaster that Solomon warned us about in Ecclesiastes 6. It’s a joy killer. It may look like seeking meaning but it all becomes so meaningless.

Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. ¹⁰So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, Ecclesiastes 11:9-10

Solomon tells us, “go!” Try that new hobby or skill. Actively seek out new friendships and opportunities. Tell your friend or family member how much God loves them – today. Stop waiting until you get to the point where there’s no longer time, but also remembering all along who you belong to – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Not hedonism as we looked at chapter 10 and the Right Side of Life. That’s meaningless folly. True joy, true enjoyment comes from knowing and listening to the Lord and stepping onto the narrow path.

I read a quote recently that went something like this:

Trusting God is like being married to adventure but if you are looking for an excuse, you will find one.”

In other words, if you truly trust in the Lord for His love and provision. If you truly believe you are a beloved and beautiful daughter or son of God then He wants you to enjoy this short life He’s given you on this little blue planet.

This ancient book of wisdom on the surface seems like the last place to go to for this inspiration. I mean reminding us from beginning to end we will all die…a real party conversation killer. But sprinkled throughout this truth are the six reminders to “Enjoy Life.” Enjoy life while fearing the Lord and keeping His commands (Ecc 12:13). King Solomon did a bit too much of the first and forgot the second until towards the end of his life. He’s pleading with you hear his God-given words now.

I read this article by editor and founder Joanna Gaines in my most recent copy of Magnolia magazine. I realized it was a great way to end this series studying Ecclesiastes and the meaning of life. Especially for those of you who struggle with life’s changes, the good and the frequently not so good. We may want to retreat, go back to the old. We pray for God to remove the struggle and the pain. And it might get us stuck. Stuck in bad habits and bad relationships. Stuck in not believing the God who created the heavens and the earth also has a plan and blessings waiting for you. Stuck in the lie that your personal cycle of life will just keep plugging away, never changing and never ending. Which keeps us far from the concept of joy and enjoyment. Listen to this excerpt from Mrs. Gaines’ essay titled, “Space to See Possibility” (spring 2024).

When life swung, for the first time I didn’t hold my breath. I stood tall. I looked around. I worried less what was changing now and instead looked forward to what it could give way to the next. I asked myself, “What beautiful thing can come from this? What did I learn that can carry me forward? And I came to realize that it’s the aftermath that’s the most formative. It was how we landed, how we let what was different be its own kind of beautiful. It was how we reset, changed course, and believed in the goodness to come.”

As my head has started to clear from my illnesses – my dizziness is dissipating and my vision is clearing – I look back over how often I sought the Lord. How often I thanked Him for seemingly endless boxes of Kleenex, soft sheets, a comfortable bed, doctors, pharmacists, drug inventors and scientists, friends, clean water, my husband and daughters, and more. I pleaded but I didn’t know if I would be healed or when. I felt terrible yet, still I knew my life is good. A life to enjoy even in the least enjoyable moments. Because that’s what our faith gives us. Head scratching, oppositeness from the world. A life of meaning.

My friend, I hold out my hand to you asking you to join me on this great adventure called Jehovah, God, Jesus, Elohim, Holy Spirit. Ask Him today, “What’s next?” and go enjoy.

Enjoying the “Enough” Life Part Two

April 10, 2024April 9, 2024 krisshetter

Did you miss part one of Enjoying the Enough Life? Click here!

Enjoyment without God is merely entertainment.
Warren Wiersbe

No one on this great blue planet is without sin. Without sinful desires and thoughts. Without sinful emotions. So, if we seek contentment, or unconditional wholeness solely from within what do we find? Our sinful selves just like I did when I embarked on my happiness journey a few years ago. And we turn back to the unfulfilling emotion of fleeting happiness.

What guides a person to being truly joy-filled or content in every situation? How do we achieve that “unconditional wholeness” researcher Daniel Cordaro mentioned after visiting that Himalayan tribe? It requires something outside us to guide us through the ups and downs, the trials and tribulations of life. It’s easy to enjoy a new car. But what about when it breaks down? It takes no effort to enjoy the birthday party at the park you so expertly planned but what happens when it rains? Does your happiness bucket completely empty and you turn into Attila the Hun, raging at others? Or you weep and sulk feeling the cosmos hates you?

"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹²I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³I can do all things through him who strengthens me."  Philippians 4: 11-13

That strength to endure a peasant life that Tolstoy witnessed, a life of labor and toil, a life of disappointments and tragedy, and yes, even a life full of wealth comes only from God. (Ecc 5:19 & 6:2) Through the Holy Spirit who comes to dwell in us when we say, “Yes!” to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. It’s the fountain from which we draw on every single moment of every day to guide us and strengthen us. Because my friends, you cannot find wholeness without Him.

Deep-seated in the American mind, for example, is the disastrous idea that we should pursue happiness. But what is happiness? And what are the realities through which one could achieve it? And how, practically speaking, does one pursue happiness? One might pursue happiness on the carpe diem principle. But that can be understood in many ways. It could endorse a sensuality of the present moment or endorse devoting the present moment to improvement of one’s character, to serving others, or to serving God. Usually in our times, however, it is some form of sensuality. Our choice between these options will have profound implications for our efforts to become a genuinely good person and to live harmoniously with reality, with how things really are.
Dallas Willard

My Bible study ladies are currently studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount by Jen Wilkins. In the first week we read and discovered the messages behind the first 12 verses, also known as the Beatitudes. Jesus’ goal in this sermon was to re-define for the disciples what not only the Kingdom of Heaven looks like but what its citizens look like. The first four beatitudes describe the character of its citizens:

We Are Poor in Spirit: accepting we are weak and sinful in need of a strength outside ourselves
We Are Mourners: we recognize our sinfulness and weep over it daily. Asking God for forgiveness for each time we act, speak or think (even feel) in opposition to God’s will for us.
We Are Meek: in modeling Jesus’ submission to the Father in going to the cross for humanity’s sins and therefore suffering a terrible death, we too seek humility and submission to God.
We Are Hungry and Thirsty: not for earthly glory, praise and wealth but for our hearts and minds to be daily cleansed. We constantly seek His will for our life so that we can glorify Him. We cast off our old selves and thirst for the new bodies and New Eden to come.

These citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven? They will be abundant with fruit and content in all situations. The fruits of love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, patience, self-control and faithfulness can be seen by all around them. They spread that fruit and His Word throughout our families, communities and the world. We achieve the ultimate peace in the face of persecution. Peace with God. Our friction between us is gone. We are made whole because He breathes the Holy Spirit into us, making us one with Him.

"And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one…²²The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." John 17: 11 & 22-23

One with the Creator of all things seen and unseen – Elohim, Jehovah. What more could a tiny, sinful human want for all eternity? All other pales in comparison! No self-help book without God can help you achieve such gloriously contented status. King Solomon discovered that our sinful toil without God is usually for our own gain and our appetite is never satisfied on our own (Ecc 6:7).

"The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
    there is none who does good." Psalm 14:1-2

I once saw an interaction with a non-believer and a street preacher. The young, unbelieving woman stated, “How can you say I won’t go to heaven (which as a non-believer why would she care?) when I’m a good person. I’m better than most Christians. I don’t lie, cheat or steal.” Yet, as Jesus reminds us further in the Sermon on the Mount if you even let your heart yearn to do any of those things you are guilty. And I would bet all that I have she has, in fact, actually lied. She has probably stolen something – maybe someone’s dignity by gossiping about them. And cheating? She might have thought that little deed or breaking some municipal law wasn’t that “big of a deal” but it’s still cheating. She is at odds with God, broken and not whole.

It is only through the gift of reconciliation for our sins, no matter their size, of which Jesus Christ paid for, that we can come upright before the God of the Universe. Where we receive mercy and forgiveness so we don’t have to live in shame and hurt, grasping for pleasures to dull our pain. No, instead He brushes us off and clothes us in white garments. He brings us into His family and calls us His sons and daughters. He pours out His love and gives a piece of Him to live in us so we can have that “unconditional wholeness.” He gifts us with “enough” each day so that we may be satisfied.

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.⁴And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."  James 1:2-4

We are made perfect and complete, meaning made whole, when we face life’s trials and rely on the God who gives us strength and hope. We are honed and shaped into the image of the only being that walked this earth who was sinless and fully content — Jesus.

Friend, if you want to get off the roller coaster of seeking “happiness” and then being brought low by trials, look to our All Mighty God and His Son. He is our provider, our protector, our armor, our joy, our hope. He has never broken a promise and He never will. He promises you a new life at the end of the rainbow – not a pot of gold. And with that promise and hope we can live a contented, meaningful life of “enough” in a world of chaos.

Treasures of God

January 26, 2024 krisshetter

"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

Hello Friends! I’m currently working on my next series based on the book of Ecclesiastes. The idea was born of my word of the year, Enjoy. Enjoying every moment by seeking the Lord in every circumstance, whether good times or times of trial.

In the meantime, I’ve joined a church Bible study group which will focus on the names of God. And as usual, the Lord is intertwining all my various times of study and prayer. The first name we looked at was Elohim, God the Creator of all things seen and unseen. In my longtime Bible study group we are digging deep into how our sins block spiritual revival. And lastly, in my devotional I’m learning how to grow in wisdom. Putting all these together I was struck with the concept that I need to remember who I belong to, who I was created by, and what my purpose is here on this earth. When I confess that I’m not in charge, God is, and when I remember that I was created in the image of God to do His will and give Him all glory, honor and power, it opens me up to spiritual revival.

Friend, you are a beloved son or daughter of God. You were created by Him through your earthly family. And even if that family has failed you we need to remember we are loved so immensely. None of us were created to go about our lives willy nilly placing our hopes and dreams in the idols of this world. When we realize that our sole purpose is to honor God the Creator, God the Sovereign Lord, we re-align our minds and hearts with the Holy Spirit.

I want to encourage you to sit in prayer during the next few days and ask God to reveal any roadblocks you have put up for receiving and surrendering to Him fully. Ask Him to help you remember who you belong to. Ask Him for a revival in your heart. Ask Him to make His will be done in your life.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8

One of the women in my church study group is a poet. She shared her amazing poem yesterday about being His beloved children. She gave me permission to share it with all of you. Enjoy.

Treasures of God’s Heart

By Jill Becker



I know I’m Your child, Lord, but what does that mean?

What treasures await me that I have not seen?

Many You’ve shown me, so many I know,

Others I let slip from my thoughts long ago.

You tell me of great things that You want to do,

Yet at times I take paths that I’ve chosen, not You.



Lord, since I am but clay, and You’re the wise Potter,

How could it be that You made me Your daughter?

You could have formed me into what I deserve:

A warped and cracked pot not even worthy to serve.

But You set me before You, Your grace made me able,

To be part of Your family and feast at Your table.



You sent for me Jesus, my Savior and Brother,

Who demonstrated love for mankind like no other.

He gave us His life, all that was heavens to give,

Then He sent forth His Spirit, so within me He lives.

Great riches He left me, those fit for a Royal,

No longer a pauper left to struggle and toil.



Amazing to me is what You’ve given beyond measure,

And more awesome than all is that I bring You pleasure.

You tell me I’m precious, the love of Your life,

A jewel set in this dark world to sparkle with your Light.

Lord, I know all that’s needed is mine for the taking,

To care for this beloved child of your making.



So, I’ll open the treasure chest to see what’s inside,

It is filled with God’s Word so I’ll grow and abide.

There are gems of Your mercy, Your faithfulness and more,

My heart and my mind can’t contain what’s in store.

For when I asked what it means to be a Daughter of the King,

My Father answered in one word, “O child, EVERYTHING!”