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Remember the Creator Today's Devotional Read: Ecclesiastes 9.7–10 Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 14–16; Mark 12:28–44 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Ecclesiastes 9.7 I recently read a novel about a woman who refuses to acknowledge she has terminal cancer. When Nicola’s exasperated friends force her to face the truth, the reason for her avoidance emerges. “I’ve wasted my life,” she tells them. Though born with talents and wealth, “I made nothing of my life. I was sloppy. I never stuck at anything.” The prospect of leaving the world now, feeling she’d achieved little, was too painful for Nicola to contemplate. I was reading Ecclesiastes around the same time and found the contrast stark. Its Teacher won’t let us avoid the reality of the grave, “the realm of the dead, where you are going” (9:10). And while this is hard to face (v. 2), it can lead us to value every moment we have now (v. 4), intentionally enjoying our food and families (vv. 7–9), working purposefully (v. 10), taking adventures and risks (11:1, 6), and doing it all before the God we’ll one day answer to (v. 9; 12:13–14). Nicola’s friends point out that her faithfulness and generosity to them proves her life hasn’t been a waste. But maybe the Teacher’s advice can save us all from such a crisis at the end of our lives: remember our Creator (12:1), follow His ways, and embrace every opportunity to live and love that today He provides. How will you take delight in today’s simple, God-honoring joys? What one good thing have you yet to do or attempt? Loving God, thank You for today and the gifts it holds. I’ll enjoy its simple joys and embrace its opportunities as an act of worship to You. 
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