Paul Vieira

Okay, I have more thoughts to share with you about life in exile. In a previous post, I talked about how truth has a context; truth is relative to the occasion. Something true in one context might be a lie in another. I also posted about the truth that we need to know as believers living in exile. Please read those posts before moving on to this one. You can find it by clicking on the category “living in exile” on the left side of this page.

In Jeremiah 29 we can find a letter that was written to the exiles in Babylon. This letter has become my personal lifestyle guide for this season that I`m in. Many of you feel that you are in this same season of living your life outside the organized Christianity that you came from. This letter to the exiles basically encourages them to settle in Babylon. They will be in this for the long haul. It warns them not to be anxious about getting back to their old life any time soon. They are to build homes, plant gardens, raise kids and grandkids, and they are to prosper in Babylon being agents of peace in that city. This is the season that I find myself in now. After being in the church sub-culture for so many years, I lost touch with life and what it means to be in this world.

It has become clear to me that the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible is truth intended for seasons like the one we`re in now. It seems this is the only book I can read right now. I know I must understand the truth being presented in these writings of the old wise king Solomon. The message of Ecclesiastes is very relevant to people living in exile. It grapples with the meaning of life and it gives us a compass to follow in these waters of uncertainty, this life in Babylon.

My personality tends to seek out meaning in everything. I want to live a large life. I want to make a difference. I have a powerful drive to be important and make my mark on the world some how. Because of this, I tend to wallow in the past and obsess about the future. For years, I`ve lived a very moody existence because I`ve held to this picture of what my life is supposed look like but it rarely ever seems to unfold the way that I picture it. I am constantly disappointed because things don`t happen the way I imagine them. Since I`m always living in the future, I miss the present moment. This kind of obsession steals my time away. I`m not actually living at all if I don`t fully engage in the present moment. My wife, my kids and what really matters most, are all here in the present and I`m missing it because of an undisciplined mind that constantly wanders into what my future aspirations will look like. I am sick of dreaming. I want to live! I want to join my family in the present and embrace the ordinary.

I`m learning to love the ordinary. I work a respectable job Monday to Friday, and I look forward to every weekend. I enjoy taking home a regular pay check. Actually, getting a “real job” (as my wife calls it) has saved my marriage. I used to be in professional Christianity ministry and the financial instability of that career path almost destroyed my family. However, these days, on the weekends I play with my kids. We have pizza and movie night. I play hockey with my sons. We hang out together as a family on Sunday mornings and enjoy our regular Sunday morning breakfast of waffles and turkey bacon. I`ve started playing in a rock band.

I wanted my life to count, to be great, to make a difference. I never dreamed that I would find the meaning of life in the ordinary. Embracing the ordinary has changed my entire outlook on life. I think I will still do the things that our in my heart to do. However, my obsession to be “great” was sabotaging those dreams by causing me to miss the moment, to not live and enjoy the present.

These everyday encounters make life real and it`s through loving and enjoying the people around us that our life becomes great. Our lofty pursuits often become meaningless efforts at chasing the wind, while our kids stand on the side lines wishing that they had our affection and attention.

This is what Solomon wrote about pursuing greatness and finding meaning in the ordinary:

I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire!

So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless, like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.
Ecclesiastes 2:4-11

So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne!

Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil. Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
Ecclesiastes 9:7-10