Ecc Study Five

Study Number Five

Read Ecclesiastes 2:17-26.

“toil and anxious striving”

Kate reached around her two and a half-year-old daughter for the can of cleanser in the closet. Lauren made whining and whimpering sounds. She wrapped her arms around Kate’s leg. “Mommy, Mommy,” she said.
Kate sprayed a large cloud of foaming cleanser on her rag and then placed the can on the sink counter. She began scrubbing the sink basin with Lauren still attached to her leg.
“Up, up, please” Lauren said. “Carry me.”
Kate sighed. “Lauren, Mommy is cleaning the bathroom right now. Why don’t you go play with Jack?”
“No. I don’t wanna play with Jack,” Lauren said.
“Don’t tell Mommy ‘no,’” said Kate quickly. “Go play with Jack for a bit. When I get done cleaning we can read some stories.”
Lauren stuck out her lower lip and started to make more whining and whimpering sounds.
“Lauren,” Kate said, “Mommy told you to go play with Jack. You need to obey.”
Lauren shook her head and started to cry. “No, no,” she said.
“Lauren,” said Kate in exasperation. She gave her a little push toward the door.
Lauren left the room but obviously wasn’t happy to do so. Kate could hear her tromping to the bedroom she shared with her twin brother. She was crying all the way. Kate counted to ten under her breath, telling herself if Lauren didn’t stop, Kate would discipline her.
“Hi,” Jack said, his voice a little muffled.
Probably bending over some truck he was running back and forth on the floor, Kate thought.
Kate continued to clean the bathroom countertop. If she could just work a little faster. If the kids just wouldn’t interrupt her so much. If they just didn’t make so many messes so that it seemed like she constantly had to clean, finishing one clean up job only to need to work on another.
Kate finished the countertop and turned to the toilet. Lauren had thankfully stopped crying. Kate sighed. She wondered if the little girl wasn’t feeling well. She seemed so unhappy today.
Kate flushed the stool and replaced the toilet brush. Then she stood for a moment and rested her hands on the small of her back, which was sore from her bending over. She’d already cleaned the guest bathroom and the kitchen floors and countertops. After she finished cleaning this bathroom, the one the family used most often, and vacuumed the house, she’d just have to dust and the house would look tolerable, at least. She should also scrub at the spot on the kids’ carpet, try that new carpet cleaner she’d just bought.
Then there was the meal to think about.
But it would be worth it. So much more rewarding to do the work for others, not just for her family. It wasn’t that her husband and kids weren’t the most important people in the world to her. They were. Her life had changed so much—for the better—since she’d married her preacher husband—that she hardly felt like the same person she’d been before she met him. And he’d changed a great deal too, for the better as well, Kate thought. They had an “iron sharpens iron” relationship, making each other stronger. Still, it was so nice to have other people over, people who might be more aware and appreciative of all the work she’d done. Her family understandably had more of a tendency to take it for granted. They would have a nice visit with the Carters. Then later this week, maybe they could have over the Douglases.
Lauren came back into the bathroom, book in hand. “Read this book, please, Mommy?” Lauren said.
Kate was touched that the little girl said please, and she had told her she’d read to her, but—she wasn’t done cleaning yet. “In a minute, Lauren,” Kate said. “Mommy’s not finished yet. Can’t you play with Jack just a little bit longer?”
Lauren started to cry.
“Okay, okay,” Kate said, knowing she was giving in for the wrong reason. “We’ll read one.”
As she read, Kate looked forward to the children’s naptime, hoping she could get her work done then and still have time to rest for a few minutes. She rather doubted she’d be able to finish everything before nap so she could have all of the kids’ naptime for herself. In fact, she was certain she couldn’t.

While Kate dusted, Jack and Lauren fought over toys. First Jack climbed into Lauren’s dollhouse while Lauren was playing with it, and then Lauren tried to take Jack’s race car track apart just as Jack finished setting it up. Then Jack pushed Lauren over and she hit her head on the bed post but got up and grabbed Jack’s legs, knocking him down. Kate pulled them apart and set them up with activities in opposite corners of the family room. Finally Kate finished dusting and turned on a kids’ TV program while she fixed lunch.
After lunch, more fighting and whining, and Jack wet his pants, but then it was naptime, and Kate put the kids down for their naps, feeling greatly relieved. Thirty minutes later, Kate was putting together a casserole, when she heard banging coming from the kids’ room. She quickly washed her hands and walked down the hall to the bedroom.
There were toys all over the floor with Jack sitting in the middle of them, smacking a metal truck over and over again with a plastic hammer. Kate had had the kids put their toys away before their nap time, so Jack, possibly with Lauren’s help, though she was now peacefully asleep on her bed, had obviously gotten them out again after she’d put the kids down.
Kate felt frustrated and angry as she picked Jack up. She told him it was rest time. He needed to be quiet. She put him back in his bed. He cried. She left the room and went back to the kitchen.
Ten minutes later, the banging started up again and Kate returned to the bedroom to find Jack in the same pose as before, hammer hard at it. She reached for him, and then she caught a whiff of his pants and wrinkled her nose.
She put her hands under his arms and carried him to the bathroom to clean him off.
“Why didn’t you use the potty chair?” she asked a couple times in exasperation as she cleaned him up with moist wipes.
“I don’t know,” Jack said.
Kate started to put a diaper on Jack when she finished cleaning him up.
“I don’t want to wear a diaper,” Jack said.
Kate didn’t know if she should feel glad or not. She kept trying—and he kept having accidents. But it seemed wrong to just give up. At least Lauren was doing well in the potty training department, most of the time. Nothing like Jack. You’d think he’d be inspired, but he wasn’t. If anything, Lauren’s success almost seemed to remind him of his failure and cause him to lose heart. But he, and Kate, kept up the subterfuge, as he wore underpants each day and repeatedly wet or soiled them, so that Kate, already overwhelmed by housework, was now weighted down with having to do more and more frequent laundry.
Kate put a clean pair of underwear on Jack and returned him to his bed. “Hope springs eternal,” she said under her breath as she returned to the kitchen.

When Nick arrived, Kate had a casserole in the oven, a fresh, still slightly warm chocolate cake on the countertop, and was chopping vegetables into a pan with Lauren and Jack’s “help.” They were chewing on carrots and wielding butter knives, ready to attack each other with them. Kate started to reach for them but Nick beat her to it.
“Umm, do you think that’s a good idea?” Nick said as he took the knives away from the kids. Lauren started to cry, but he picked her up and she stopped.
“No,” Kate said, though he was talking to the children. “I’m sure the kids could hurt each other with them, even though they don’t have an edge. But then again, I don’t think there’s much they couldn’t hurt each other with. The way Jack whips around that old toy dog of his, he could probably hurt someone with it, soft though it is.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Jack could do damage with a spoon. Gouge out Lauren’s eye.”
Kate nodded. “When are Carters supposed to arrive?”
“Any minute,” Nick said. He put Lauren down and hoisted Jack to his shoulders.
“That’s what I thought,” said Kate. “Can you get a couple more chairs?”

The doorbell rang ten minutes later and Jack rushed to answer it, shouting, “I’ll get it; I’ll get it.”
Kate smiled broadly as she went to the door to greet their guests. She managed to keep her smile pasted on even when she remembered that she still had clothes in the washer and dryer. Now, she supposed they’d just have to wait, even if she had to rewash a load. Oh well, she told herself. That’s just the way her life was right now. So busy. So much work. But she’d never been one to shy away from hard work. The hardest part for her right now was that she felt like she was accomplishing so little.
Then she heard the vegetables boil over and smelled the water and probably also the bottom of the saucepan burning on the stovetop. She raced back up the steps to the kitchen and left Jack and Nick to lead their guests inside. She’d have to greet them later, once she got everything under control.

“Kate,” Jack called from the living room. “Lauren just threw up. Do you want to bring in a rag from the kitchen while I go clean her off?”
“Oh, Lauren,” Kate said. That’s why the girl had been so fussy all morning. She probably hadn’t been feeling well. “Coming,” Kate called. She hurriedly moped up the last of the spill on the stove, then turned the heat down and placed the pan back on the burner.

Renee Carter kept her eyes averted while Kate scrubbed at the spot on her living room carpet. When Kate decided she’d done all she could at the moment to prevent a stain, she applied the carpet cleaner she’d brought with the rag. She finished, and stood to her feet.
“Let’s go on into the dining room,” Kate said. “Glad you don’t have kids?” she asked Renee and Michael as they went to the other room.
“Well, we’re willing to wait a while,” Renee said.
“How long?” Kate asked. “I bet your mom is itching for more grandkids, especially close by.”
Renee’s mother attended the church Nick pastored, as did Renee and Michael. Renee’s older sister had a one-year-old boy, Renee’s parents’ only grandchild, but he and his parents lived a good day’s drive away.
“She hasn’t said anything yet, but it’s only been a year and a half since Mike and I got married.”
“We’d already had the twins by then,” said Kate. “Just had them—they were born seventeen months after we got married, but still.” She brought Renee a stack of plates, napkins, and silverware, then went back to the kitchen to fetch a pitcher of iced tea and glasses. When she returned, she immediately started filling the glasses.
“Was it a big adjustment? A lot more work?” Mike asked.
Renee set the plates, silverware, and napkins on the table.
Kate finished filling a glass with tea before she responded, “A lot more work, yes. And most of it’s doing the same things over and over like cleaning and doing laundry and changing diapers. You wouldn’t believe how much your life changes. But it’s worth it.”
Mike took the pitcher of tea from Kate and started filling the rest of the glasses.
“I’m sure it is,” Mike said, though he didn’t sound convinced. Renee’s expression was hard to read, but Kate thought she also looked rather dubious.
Kate laughed. “Sometimes I wish Nick was the one staying at home and I got to leave each day to go to work. On those really crazy days, you know.”
Nick walked in with a sopping wet Lauren. “I’m all cleaned up, Mommy,” Lauren said.
“You gave her a bath?” Kate said, surprised.
“Just a quick one,” said Nick.
“Where’s Jack?” Kate asked.
A loud cry came from the direction of the bathroom.
“That sounds like him,” Nick said.
Kate hurried off. She opened the door of the bathroom and saw Jack standing in the tub, fully clothed, and quite wet.
“I fell in,” Jack said.
“Did you?” said Kate.
Jack hung his head. “I jumped in,” he said. “Do I get a spanking?”
Kate nodded.


Finally Kate had the food on the table, and the kids dried off, in fresh clothes, and seated. Nick blessed the food, Kate served the kids, and then the adults helped themselves and started eating.
Three forkfuls into her meal, Lauren leaned over her plate and started gagging.
“Chew it up, honey,” Kate said anxiously. “You shouldn’t take such big bites.”
Lauren threw up everything she’d eaten. Thankfully it was all on her plate and not on her fresh, clean clothing or on the tablecloth or the floor.
Renee quickly looked away.
“I should have thought that she might get sick again if she ate,” Kate said. “I’ll go get a rag,” and she quickly rose to her feet.

Questions to Answer

1. Why does Solomon say hard work is meaningless? Why does he say it’s meaningful? How do you reconcile these two ideas?

2. How would you describe Kate? What motivates her? What is she trying to accomplish?

3. How is Kate’s hard work meaningless? How is it meaningful?

4. Are you a driven worker? Why or why not? How is what you do meaningless? How is it meaningful?