Our Middle School-aged kids finally started back with in-person school recently. After a year-and-a-half of vegetating at their desks behind computer screens in online school they were desperate to go back to IRL classes (Just showing off my recently acquired ‘with-it’ lingo. FYI, IRL = In Real Life. You can thank me later for that completely useless piece of information.)

On D-day, even my so-not-a-morning-person daughter jumped out of bed at 6:30 am and was ready a full ten minutes before we needed to leave for school.

Let me tell you this hasn’t always been the case. Not by a looong shot. I remember when waking Her Highness from her slumber was akin to getting your pet goldfish to recite poetry. In Spanish. While wearing a sombrero. Yeah, basically it was a close-to-impossible task. On school mornings threats were unleashed. Drama was unveiled. Tears were unlocked. Some Monday mornings were like… well, they were like Monday mornings.

But now we bask in the warmth of the newness of school. And both my kids can’t get enough of it.

It reminded me of Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes where he says: There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil.” (Ecclesiastes 2:24)

In this season, it seems like my kids are finding “enjoyment in [their] toil.”

Honestly, though, I’ve always been somewhat confounded by this verse or the one a few chapters later that says, “I commend joy, for man has no good thing under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful.” (Ecclesiastes 8:15)

I’ve always thought to myself: Hey, Solomon, not sure if you got the memo, but these words are meant to be in the Holy Bible, not in some Happy Book of Hedonism.

Was Solomon, the wisest man on earth, advocating pleasure for the sake of pleasure??? It sure sounds like he is — if you consider those verses in isolation. But that’s never how the Bible is supposed to be read, is it?

When you see that the entire book of Ecclesiastes focuses on the transience of life, Solomon is not saying we should “live it up” but that we should live to the full.

Just like the closure of in-person classes made school “so uh-mazing” for my kids, the awareness of the closure of life brings our God-given blessings in life into sharper focus. They become sweeter, something we become more grateful for.

Gratitude is not just muttering a hasty thank-you-God before meals or when the “big” blessings come our way.

It’s acknowledging that every blessing is authored by God — and not by us.

It’s enjoying those blessings — without being mastered by them so the gift doesn’t become bigger than the Giver Himself.

It’s stewarding those blessings with great care so God can look at us with pride and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Yes, it is completely Biblical to enjoy our blessings. God created them for our pleasure. He waits for us to unwrap the gifts He gives us — a delicious meal, an astounding piece of art, a child’s carefree giggle, a pink-and-orange sunset, a cool breeze that calms your heart, a luscious perfectly-ripe mango, the ability to take a walk around the block, a particularly meaningful line in a book, a hug from an old friend, a conversation with your mom, a spanking new journal, or even a regular day of IRL school.

God doesn’t expect us or want us to live a monk-like life of asceticism. Nor does He want us to be enslaved by a life of excess. He gives us gifts to enjoy. May we be mindful of them, thankful for them, and use them for His glory.

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