The Teacher is counseling us not to resent that reality but to face it. He doesn’t despair that life is like “chasing after wind” (Eccles. 1:14); rather, as Leithart points out, the Hebrew phrase should be translated “shepherding the wind.”12 This is not a counsel of despair or resignation but rather an invitation to reframe expectations such that I can “enjoy” what’s before me, who is with me, fleeting as their presence might be.
