all is vanity

To catch a firefly one must figure out where the heck it’s at. It’s hard to tell when it’s in its non-glowing state. I run after it frantically, then earnestly reach out for it – fingers outstretched to the sky - and I jump for it when my arms can’t extend any farther. Something about them enraptures me.

I have a goal. I need to catch it. I want to feel it crawling on my hand. Finally, the hard work pays off. At last sweet success! I must keep it close. I cup my hands around it and part them just enough so that I can see go: Dark. Light. Dark. Light. All this mystery between my fingers.

It doesn’t end there, of course. I must observe this wonder without fear that it will escape from me. A clear bell jar does the trick. The lid has purposeful holes punched through the top; these holes are large enough for air to enter the jar and small enough that my luminescent prize has no hope of escape.

Then I sit back and I lie down. The jar is on my nightstand, my head is on my pillow and my body is turned on its side. I am satisfied and I feel this moment, now, is the reward for my hard work and diligence. Oh, it is magic. It goes in a repetitious pattern. Dark, then glorious light, then dark again.

This continues for a long while. The treasure that once captured my attention has now become commonplace, merely part of the scenery in my room. The chase after this insect has tired me out. I stop all my thinking. Sleep. In the morning my firefly that I sought after with such ambition lies dead, no fire at all.

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.

Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.