Discipline of the Heart: Hevel

The Book of Ecclesiastes grapples with the notion that life under the sun is hevel - or put another way - meaningless. Like hevel, which means vapor or smoke in Hebrew, our lives on Earth are fleeting and ultimately outside our grasp. However, while our choices and actions may seem like fruitless toil in our limited understanding, they reveal where our heart truly is in relation to God. The discipline of the heart is looking to God, instead of everything else, for meaning and hope. It's a discipline because it requires sacrifice; we let go of the other ways we try to instill meaning in our lives, and in exchange, make room for God, who gives our lives eternal significance.