Welcome to Our Daily Bread. I'm Sheridan Voizzi, and I've called out reading today, Remember the Creator.

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, saying in Chapter 9, the realm of the dead where you are going. And while this is hard to face, it can lead

us to value every moment we have now, intentionally enjoying our food and families, working

purposefully, taking adventures and risks, and doing it all before the God will one day answer

to.

Nicholas 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, follow his ways, and embrace every opportunity to live and love that

today he provides.

Today's scripture reading is from Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verses 7 to 10.

Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God

has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.

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