1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity...I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.
4 I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks...I had also great possessions of herds and flocks...8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the children of man. 9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem... 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.
11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
So here we have a pretty picture of a life of leisure, (leisure defined as enjoying yourself and having no obligations ). He gives himself to whatever his heart desires, and even works hard at this lesire. Yet he concludes that all is vanity, and there was nothing to be gained. Leisure fails to satisfy. "What does a man gain," he asks, "by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?" (Eccle 1:3) Leisure is no gain; it is no compensation for toil.
Have you experienced this? Perhaps you come home from a long day of work to veg out in front of the TV. To get a little fun in your life after hours of long tasks. The TV show is never funny enough, didn't get your adrenaline pumping enough,wasn't heart-rending or passionate enough. You're dissatisfied. So you flip to another TV show. Maybe this one will hit the spot. Or maybe it's not a TV show - perhaps it's a Whopper (or a couple Whoppers), or bar-hopping, or shopping for gadgets or clothing. Part of the joy of shopping is the anticipation, the choosing, finding a steal. But after about a week, the new iPhone turns out to have bad reception, or the sweater shrinks two sizes in the wash. So you look for something else. Leisure seems like a hunger that rarely is satisfied. We're never having enough fun to compensate for the hours in the cubicle. At least that's what I experienced during my stint in the working world.
I'd like to think that the concept of leisure as a necessity is a relatively new one. That leisure in the middle ages, say, was primarily a privilege of the wealthy. That the majority of the world's population had little time for leisure, between practicing a trade, doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning, and raising the kids. Leisure for the masses could be found on the rare occasion during holidays, Sabbaths, perhaps. So leisure generally could not serve as a justification for toil. But given the technological advances of our time, specialization which enables more efficient distribution of labor, and the extension of our day by artificial means, we suddenly have extra hours in our day with which we can please ourselves.
The article on leisure in Wikipedia supports this view:
The word leisure comes from the Latin word licere, meaning “to be permitted” or “to be free,” via Old French leisir, and first appeared in the early fourteenth century.[2] The notions of leisure and leisure time are thought to have emerged in Victorian Britain in the late nineteenth century, late in the Industrial Revolution. Early factories required workers to perform long shifts, often up to eighteen hours per day, with only Sundays off work. By the 1870s though, more efficient machinery and the emergence of trade unions resulted in decreases in working hours per day, and allowed industrialists to give their workers Saturdays as well as Sundays off work.
Affordable and reliable transport in the form of railways allowed urban workers to travel on their days off, with the first package holidays to seaside resorts appearing in the 1870s, a trend which spread to industrial nations in Europe and North America. As workers channeled their wages into leisure activities, the modern entertainment industry emerged in industrialized nations, catering to entertain workers on their days off. This Victorian concept—the weekend—heralded the beginning of leisure time as it is known today."
We are a nation intent on enjoying ourselves. The pursuit of happiness is even written in our constitution. And yet what's curious is that as a nation, we take less vacation days than most European countries. A study titled "Overwork in America" Found that:
• The average number of paid vacation days employees have is 16.6 days. The average number of vacation days employees had already taken or expected to take in 2004 was 14.6 days.
The most important finding on how U.S. employees take their vacations is:
• More than 1/3 of employees (36%) do not plan to use their full vacations.
And comparing US paid vacation time after 10 years tensure, n a study from Mercer HR consulting in 2007:
Yet I think there's something very real here going on underneath the surface: you and I are hungry and dissatisfied. Leisure promises laughter, distraction, pleasure, satiation, and contentment, but its promises invariably ring hollow. Toil, too, is ultimately no source of satisfaction either, in and of itself.
After his long exploration into the ways of man in Ecclesiastes, Solomon concludes, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) Solomon leaves us no hope for meaningful lives, other than to live in light of judgment. And yet his father David experienced so much more:
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
- Psalm 16
Henri Nouwen reminds us that true Christian leadership is rooted in being in the presence of God. Yet on the spectrum of obligation and pleasure, I confess that prayer and Bible study for me inevitably fall on the side of obligation. I continue to seek meaning through my work and through my leisure time, though I find them empty. How foolish I am! Here I die of thirst while I am lying beside streams of living water! I continue to grope blindly in darkness, only because I refuse to open my eyes!
Lord, teach me to shun the foolish pleasures that I seek, the shiny, empty promises which do not satisfy, my sins and idols. Teach me to seek what is truly good, to pursue in my leisure the source of life, fullness of joy, and pleasures forever!
