by Dennis and Barbara Rainey

Ecclesiastes 2:17
So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

Have you thought lately about where you're going in life?

A sign on the rugged Alaskan Highway reads: Choose your rut carefully. You'll be in it for the next 200 miles.

Too many of us like ruts. Predictable and familiar, ruts offer us security. Like a numbing narcotic, however, they cause us to waste a lot of our lives. It has been said that a rut is nothing more than a grave with both ends knocked out. This must have been part of the futility Solomon experienced when he wrote those words in Ecclesiastes.

Children naturally resist ruts. As Barbara and I attempt to raise six, we're challenged by their probing questions. We're told a child asks at least 250,000 questions growing up. No wonder they learn so rapidly...and stay out of ruts.

Maybe one reason we adults feel that we're stuck in a 200-mile rut is we don't ask enough questions. Daily we climb on the merry-go-round of life, getting up and going to work. Then we come home and ritualistically collapse in front of the TV set.

Occasionally we wonder about getting out of our ruts, but we usually give in to our insecurities, and decide to stay where we are. At least we know the boundaries. Some people try to escape the sense of meaninglessness simply by accelerating the pace of their lives. But their direction doesn't change; the rut still determines where they're going.

Where is your rut going? As one man put it, "Most of us live a lifetime looking for the pot at the end of the rainbow, only to find a pot of salty liver soup."

Solomon's sense of futility stemmed from the fact that all his ruts were "under the sun"-devoid of the transcendent presence of God. Only when he decided to "fear God and keep His commandments" (Eccles. 12:13) was he able to escape the futile sameness of life's ruts.

Prayer:

Ask God to keep you out of the ruts of a boring "Christian" life and to enable you to see Him at work in your life and family.

Discuss: What element in your life and work helps you escape a sense of futility? How does God lift us out of our "ruts"?

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