The only thing

It struck me today as I thought about the phrase "vanity of vanities" about how much of life is actually worth something(very little, and I was spurred to this blog-thought because of Fr. Patricks Christmas address at the HROC site). I think about everything I have done, everything I have gained and the only thing that I feel is a truly creative, beautiful thing is my son. My wife and I have produced a beautiful little boy. How will I be able to communicate to him that nothing in the world(by world I mean, cars, houses, money, etc) really matters. I want him to know that his purpose as a human is to search for love, for life, for God and all those things converge.

I like my car, my house, my laptop, but they do very little to make me a better person. I do not love God more because of my car. I do not feel invigorated and alive because of my laptop. I do not feel complete and fulfilled because of my house. Those things satisfy a baser desire for comfort, for status, or in the vernacular -- bling. They are vanities in a world of vanities. My wife and my son are what I thank God for, they invigorate me, they make me feel loved and fulfilled. My friends complete that circle, my family makes me stronger. Every "thing" I have is just that, a thing and just as my body will some day be buried and decompose, so will all those things. I believe however my friendships, my love for my son and wife, my search and desire for God are eternal. Those relationships will reverberate through the people I meet and keep in contact with, I pray that I make a positive impact and that I will represent what it is to be human in a good way.

BTW, when I first read Ecclesiastes and saw the phrase "vanity of vanities" I read it as a superlative, that somehow it was the vainest of all vain things, but I see a different meaning now. Vanity of vanities can also be read as cherishing that which is vain, or taking vanity in vain things. I think both ideas are worth pursuing and perhaps the phrase was constructed with both meanings in mind.