meaningless

I can step back and start looking at everything objectively-- why do I wake up? Why do I make delicious food only to have to eat something else in a few hours? Why do I work? Why do I make money? Why do we need money? Where does it go, where does it come from? What purpose do I have on the earth-- wake up, do stuff, go to bed, do it again. Meaningless! Vanities! Vapors! Hebel!

Solomon felt the same way.

But he doesn't sit in the sorrow of everything feeling meaningless and repetitive and unfruitful.
Rather, he points out the why of it all... eternity.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet he cannot find out what God has done from beginning to end... I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear him." 

(Ecclesiastes 4:16)

So I guess that it comes down to this:

Whatever I do, in the name of myself, of my own reward and glory-- that is utterly meaningless.

But. Whatever is done by God, sometimes through me, is eternal, righteous, good, meaningful, beautiful.

And so, my heart should be turned toward truly glorifying God by my day's tasks, by my heart desires, by my words and all things that I think carry any worth at all, including those that seem to carry no worth at all. 

Meaningless becomes meaningful because of our ever-enduring, eternal God.