“Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.”
The Finish
Job names something worth sitting with soberly here, few days, and full of trouble, cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down, worth holding as this whole book’s own honest, comprehensive summary of human life’s genuine fragility and brevity, worth naming directly rather than avoided or minimized.
This is worth holding alongside real, genuine hope, not because Job’s own honest naming here is somehow wrong, but because this whole book has been building, deliberately, toward a hope that does not require denying this honest naming, but actually, genuinely exceeds it, worth trusting as this final movement’s own coming exploration.
Notice like a flower, this specific image worth holding directly, genuine beauty, however brief, not merely tragic but also, genuinely beautiful, worth applying to your own understanding of your own brief life, not merely trouble and fragility alone, but also genuine, actual beauty, however brief its actual, honest duration.
Whatever few days and trouble honestly describes your own life’s actual brevity, hold it today alongside this flower’s own genuine beauty, worth trusting as equally true, not despair alone, but this fuller, more honest picture, brief and fragile, and yet also, genuinely, actually beautiful, worth carrying into this movement’s own closing hope.
Finish Well
- Name honestly the few days and trouble that describes your own life’s actual brevity.
- Consider also the flower’s own genuine beauty, not merely fragility alone, in your own brief life.
- Carry both honest truths together today, brevity and beauty, into this movement’s coming, closing hope.
Prayer
Lord, I am of few days, and full of trouble, like a flower, cut down. Let me hold this honestly, alongside genuine beauty, however brief, trusting your fuller hope still to come. Amen.
Carry this today
Life is genuinely brief and full of trouble, and also, like a flower, genuinely beautiful.