I love the book of Ecclesiastes. It's known as one of the most miserable books in the Bible, but where others see only doom and gloom, I consistently find reassurance that my bleaker thoughts are not outside of what Scripture comprehends.

I first discovered Ecclesiastes in the midst of teenage depression. Until that point I'd thought that the Bible was all rules, platitudes and miraculous stories (how little I knew!). I was astonished to find a book that more than understood my fairly negative take on the world.

"Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless!" (Ecclesiates 1.2)

Ecclesiastes has been a touchstone for me ever since. And I've found as much treasure in it for the highs as for the lows.

A number of months back I was invited to contribute study notes for a forthcoming edition of the Youth Bible. I was unsurprised to find that Ecclesiastes was still available and I jumped at the chance.

I had recently started Bible Summary, and I decided to skip ahead and write chapter summaries as a way of getting to grips with the key themes. So I'll be starting Ecclesiastes tomorrow with a provisional set of summaries for the whole book.

It will be interesting to see how many of the provisional summaries make the final cut. (And, for that matter, how much of what I wrote for the Youth Bible makes the final publication. I'll let you know when it comes out!)

"Of the making of books there is no end." (Ecclesiastes 12.12)