Good morning. I hope I didn’t immediately lose a good portion of you who read these thoughts with that title, but it is at the heart of today’s point to ponder.
In 1942 French philosopher Albert Camus caused a stir with his essay of the same title. In essence, Camus was introducing what he thought of as the philosophy of the absurd. He found it all together absurd that the nature of human beings was to strive to find meaning in life while the universe responds only with “unreasonable silence.” In his essay, Camus outlines what he felt were obvious indications of the absurdity of life. His final chapter retells the story from ancient Greek Mythology regarding that poor individual cursed by the gods, Sisyphus.
To put it briefly (admittedly, telling a story briefly is not typically considered a strength of mine) Sisyphus, the king of Ephyra (Corinth) cheated death. He did so not once, but twice, and this was an affront to the will of the gods. Zeus decided that a fitting penalty would be that he would spend eternity pushing a huge boulder up a steep hill only to have it nearly reach the top but then roll back to the bottom. In other words, an eternity of laborious frustration.
Camus wondered if the struggle itself was enough to fill the heart of a man. If so, he mused, then one could imagine Sisyphus a happy man.
For our thought today I would have us consider what it is that gives us a sense of peace and contentment.
The following are two versions of 1 Timothy 6:6-8. The first is from the ESV and the 2nd is from The Message.
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough.
Perhaps Camus could have found an answer to the questions in his essay if he would have considered those verses. Contentment isn’t to be found in the success of our striving, but in the simple satisfaction of life well lived while knowing with absolute confidence that we are headed towards an eternity of joyful wonder.
God bless you today in all that you try.
Vern