"Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? (Isaiah 55:2).

What's worthwhile? Is there a pattern of preferred choosing which does not end in emptiness and disappointment? Is it possible to discern and attach oneself to values which offer exhilaration in their pursuit and, at life's end, contentment and peace in a life well lived? Questions like these are not idle. They clearly sit close to us all. Many don't even make it to middle age without acquiring a pronounced distaste for everything they have put their hand to. Today's verse leans eagerly toward us all with the news that there are things worth striving for; values which are eternal; which will outlive us; which will, if we give ourselves to them, shine brightly on our lives and make us glad.