“Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.” (Ecclesiastes 2:18 KJV)
At some point in a person’s life, they begin to consider how they are going to make sure that all that they work for is left in good hands. Good hands being those hands which will not destroy what they have tried so hard to build. Perhaps even build off of their foundation so that many people can benefit from what they have started. What is it about the realization that all we have and all that we have done is likely to be left behind? To the manager, this is very grievous. In fact, to the manager, this often prompts a whole new layer of management skills. A set of skills that bury the treasure in either places that it will not be disturbed or places that it will grow for a very long time beyond what their hand will be able to manage.
It is an interesting idea because it quickly reveals the type of trust that a person has and has had for a very long time. Was the trust in the ability to accumulate all that wealth? Was the trust in the protection of that wealth? Or was the trust in the fact that God was always wealthy enough to provide all needs on a daily basis? There is a big difference in how you trust as one has a sudden and sharp stop at your death bed. The one who seeks, daily, the will and provision of God is never in the least concerned about what the guy behind him may or may not get. In part because he knows that all he received; he received by the gracious and merciful hand of God. If anything, it is the clear vision of that realization that he is most eager to pass along.
Yet the toil was not entirely for passing along a legacy. It was in part to seek out joy. Granted, a happiness that is often confused with joy, but certainly a greater or deeper satisfaction in life if one can be found. The unexpected twist is that in the attempt to manage things such that a deeper satisfaction may be found, they miss the key ingredient which delivers it on the first day. A realization that God already has all that is necessary in place. A realization that to enjoy His rest and be diligent in His work produces a fruit that they will be eating from eternally. It produces a crop so large that you have a hard time finding enough places to give it away that everyone you meet may enjoy it for as long as they will listen to the Lord’s voice.
“And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.” (Genesis 41:51 KJV)