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Years ago, we lived in a house in the woods. The trees gave wonderful shade in the summer, which we enjoyed. But the fall was a different thing. Leaves would fall continuously for what seemed like months and needed to be raked often. I learned that, on windy days, you don’t rake leaves. Just as soon as you could put a pile of leaves together, the wind would blow it apart. Yes, on windy days, you could labor all day raking leaves and not accomplish a thing. The other day I was surfing the channels on television and I came across a show that had a couple of women talking about life. One woman said to the other, “We worry, sometimes it feels like that is all we do and in the end, all of it is washed away!” Then the woman started to cry and I could understand why! That’s a pretty depressing scenario to live with. It’s a scenario that many live with! Unless you have answers to some of life’s basic questions regarding the meaning of life, you could become rather pessimistic about it. Life really is full of “worry”, and if all you get from your worries is a grave, you are left with a lament found in the book of ecclesiastics:

“As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour…and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?” (Ecc. 5:15-16).

I was struck by the phrase “laboured for the wind”. It is an interesting concept, laboring for the wind! I was brought back to my days of raking leaves on windy days and I could relate to what King Solomon, the supposed author of Ecclesiastics, was saying. “Laboring for the wind” is a worthless way to live a life. Life becomes a meaningless exercise in futility and all the worry and pain associated with it could make one become bitter. Fortunately for us, as members of Christ’s church, the gospel has answers to the main questions regarding life and its meaning. It is easy to take for granted that we have such knowledge because it is such a part of “who” we are. Life still holds for all of us its “worries” and “challenges”, but our understanding of the plan of salvation and our knowledge of our divine heritage restores purpose to the every day of our lives. Our lives are not equal to the “graffiti” found on inner city buildings, which are “washed” away every few years. All of our labors will not end up blown away by the wind and lost. No, we do have a purpose!

I know that the crying actress on television was just that, an actress. Still, art imitates life! And life for many feels like “laboring for the wind”. Take time to savor the “fruits” of the gospel. We are so blessed to know that our lives will not just be “washed away” with our deaths. Remember to thank the Lord for all that we have and for the knowledge that there is a plan of salvation in place for us all.