[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during January 2021]
Recently one of my morning readings included some words from Ecclesiastes 7: “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”
Do we agree? Is that always the case? Might we not be tempted to echo the well-known words from the Gershwin brothers’ opera ‘Porgy and Bess’ and say, “it ain’t necessarily so”?
You’re on holiday, you have on the table before you a delicious-looking dessert: a ripe banana split lengthways, sitting on a bed of cream, scoops of ice cream at each end, some sliced almonds scattered on top, finished off with a swizzle of chocolate sauce and more cream. You dive in, indeed this is delicious – it’s almost heavenly – but 90% of the way through it you realise that its creator has overdone the cream. It’s too much – you make it to the end but you felt better at the beginning of the meal rather than at its end.
Perhaps a more serious illustration is appropriate. A year ago, as we celebrated the arrival of 2020; how could we foresee that its beginning would be better than its end? Do the experiences of a bad year leave us longing for the good old days?
So, was the writer of Ecclesiastes wrong? Let us have a look at the whole passage in its context:
“The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.” [Ecc ch 7 v8-9]
Of course, it depends upon what you think of as the end. The end of the meal is not the end of the holiday and the short-term discomfort does not distract from the greater memory. Apart from changing the calendar, and perhaps a temporary headache, the end of one year rolls into the beginning of the next in a predictable pattern.
We have the tendency to jump to conclusions prematurely. We form opinions based on experiences that may not be complete. The original disciples thought that the crucifixion was the end of their relationship with Jesus. But they soon found out that it was not so. We can share in the positive outcome of the events that followed what they thought of as ‘the end’. Let’s begin the new year knowing that the best is yet to come.
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys
Very good thoughts Steve. Keep em coming please. Liliana’s pudding????
No, at Melk in Austria, Aug 2019.
What a pleasant surprise that you are carrying on with your reflections, Steve. Like Sherlock Holmes you mentioned in December, Moriarty hasn’t triumphed. I like the banana split. We were with two friends in a London restaurant and we all chose banana split for dessert, expecting it to be like your picture. Instead we were given empty glass dishes followed by an enormous bowl on a pedestal piled high with bananas, cream and chocolate. Enjoyable but it was difficult to finish. It was a good talking point with those around us. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Michael, I did remember you when writing these thoughts, thinking back to our previous conversation about Melk. This was at a restaurant in the town centre.
Thanks Steve,
Another original and thoughtful reflection with a delicious and appropriate incorporation of a meal and Biblical message! I always look forward to the next one.
Dear Steve, great to see that you reflections didn’t end with last year. Thanks for persevering. I have found them thought provoking and look forward to reading the next one. Happy New year.
Thanks David. One of the objectives of this site was to allow people to re-read the previous ‘back-page’ thoughts and reflections, and find new blessings. A lot of effort has gone into producing the back-page articles for ‘Yours’ over the years, including your own contributions, and it seems a missed opportunity if they are forgotten after a few days.
Thank you so much for your reflections Steve. Always thought-provoking; always a different way of looking at life.
I praise our Father for His continued inspiration to you and thank you for the time and effort you put into your reflections.
God bless and keep you.