Bread O Life

By Lunminthang Haokip *

LEF Imphal Service on 02 October 2011

Worry Over Monotony: A boy called Tony once was infatuated to a girl named Mona. Marriage proposed, he supposed; all he knew he was opposed. The reason for the rejection coming from the part-sensible part-witty Anglo-Indian lass was simple. If the two were wedded, the united couple would be known and joke about as "Mona-Tony" which in essence, would be synonymous with "monotony".

Monotony In Service: The job of a cutting-edge sub-district Administrator in Government service, in particular, is predictable and routine stuff. He has to get up early every day, except on holidays, meet a few favour-seekers, sign upon some documents and wash up before he is briefly seen together with his wife nibbling a morsel of breakfast item laid on the table.

An urgent call from his boss compels him to leave the packing process of his personal accessories half-done and rush out of home to attend to his superior's briefing. Onward movement is delayed because the official driver has not reported. Fuming and raging, he drives himself in a disturbed state of mind into the thick of a traffic jam of office- hour. Fuming and seething continue as the guy-behind-the wheel sees red in traffic.

Non-Occupational Hazards: Interior posting calls for frequent long-distance travel on poorly maintained state and national highways. Garage-runners may get vicarious thrill when all the parts of a vehicle, except the horn, make noise due to bad road-surfacing, but bumpy rides are speed-breakers on the pace of administration's progress. Vehicles often conk out on the way to one's place of posting at odd spots where there are no motor workshops.

Meeting timings and document-submission deadlines stand jeopardised. So are Doctor-prescribed dietary timings and specifications for the diabetic officer who is stranded mid-way to blow his lid when he is supposed to rest and eat. And when he finally makes it to his destination, by hook or crook means of hitch-hikes, he cannot find the keys of the doors of his quarter. Locks and promises to attend social events are broken at regular intervals.

Breaking Monotony: King Solomon, for all his God-gifted wisdom, got fed up with the vanity of repetitive life in his days. He lamented about it in Ecclesiastes Chapter 2 verse 11, "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun".

He initially wrote on the cycle of life in Ecl. Ch. 1:9, "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun". We all sub-consciously share the bored sentiment of the wisest king on earth. Life seems to be an unwanted imposition on us till we encounter the view-changing experience of Solomon as recorded in Ecl. 3:14. "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him".

The Reason To Live: No one, with the sole exception of God the Creator, knows what the future has in store. That does not mean that we should be reckless in planning the days to come. The uncertainty of the same ought to make us more tactful and cautious. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11;1)". By faith we know that God Himself is in command over men's affairs. He makes us live and expects that we live for Him.

In Chapter 11 verse 1 of Ecclesiastes, Solomon exhorts every future reader of his sagacious book, "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days". It means we should cast our substance, resources, gifts and talents in the waters of life like a seed being planted in the soil. We may not get back what we sow in the same form immediately, but if done in faith, the living Almighty God will surely give us back many times over after days, months and years.

Increasing Returns Of Cast Bread: Jesus is the bread of life. His Word is the spiritual food believers feed on for growth. Adoniram Judson and Anne Judson, the obscure Yankee missionary couple, prayerfully sowed the seed of the Gospel in true faith from 1812 in Burma. In hostile circumstances, they laboured, casting the bread of life upon the waters of heathen beliefs. Persecution and imprisonment did not deter their unflinching zeal to win souls.

The New Testament Bible was translated for the first time in Burmese by the die-hard twosome of tested faith. God blessed their hard work. Today 5% of Myanmar's population follow Jesus Christ. The faith God put in the heart of a young girl call Ida Scudder in 1896 in South India multiplied by leaps and bounds. Her well-placed empathic concern for superstition-endangered female patients of India in the late Nineteen Hundreds paid rich dividends in the form of world-renowned Velore Christian Hospital.

Observing The Wind: "He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap (v. 4)". The desire to invest our lives lurks somewhere inside our inner man. We Christians believe that casting our bread upon the waters of life is what we were created for. Yet we tend to wait for the ideal situation. Let me get married first or I need a stable job before I launch out in the deep or I will first secure myself with sponsors or a fat bank-balance are some of the nagging distractions than separates what we are from what we could have achieved in Evangelistic forays.

The cloud is potential rain but by itself, is not of much use. Like in the water cycle, once we are filled with the spirit of witnessing, like a cloud is with condensed water vapour, we should pour out ourselves to fill up the empty lives that grope aimlessly in our midst.

Life Is A Gift: Enjoy It: Solomon provides the secret of joyous living in three Rs – Remove, Remember and Rejoice. Verse 10 of Ecl. 11 says, "Remove sorrow from the heart, and put away evil from the flesh". How? By confessing our sins to God and setting past misdeeds with men. Verse 8 instructs, "Remember the days of darkness". Youth is the time that precedes the days of darkness in one's life. It's the right time to enjoy life to the fullest in the will of God before old age sets in. Youth-specific delights in faith-exercise must not be missed.

And in verse 9, the Scripture counsels, "Rejoice O young man in thy youth; and thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth". Some special God-approved thrills and pleasures of youthful days cannot be enjoyed in later stages of life. We are created for the pleasure of our Maker, "Thou has created all things, and for thy pleasure they are (Rev. 4:11)". Our rejoicing will come full circle only when our lives are a pleasure to the life-Giver.

Lunminthang Haokip

* Lunminthang Haokip, a resident of Old Lambulane, Imphal and posted at Moreh, Manipur is a regular contributor to e-pao.net. He can be contacted at lunminthang(dot)haokip(at)gmail(dot)com or his blog here
This article was webcasted on October 08, 2011.