Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Facing Eternity


It's been said that one of the most asked or pondered questions of a human is "Why am I here?". Translated that comes out in many forms, like "What is my purpose?" "What is the reason I am alive?" "Is there more to this life?" "Do I matter?" etc...

Honestly, as I look at my upper middle-class life I notice the beauty and ugly nature of our society and our world. I notice that once I get the things I long for, the longing shifts to other things. I notice that people always have problems, it just shifts from circumstance to circumstance. The lack of issues or problems never goes away. Yet we approach them, solve them, resolve them in an attitude that almost says, "Once I get this problem solved it will go away!" I don't believe that anymore, I think they just go into hiding and come out in another form.

So, if there is always give and take, ebb and flow, day and night then in the end it all is nothing more than a futile effort to solve problems right? I am certain there are many thoughts here, but what if all we did here on planet earth during our lives was in light of something greater to come.

What if it was a prepping time, almost like the rehearsals before a performance, training camp, or R&D. Not the real thing, but a training time.

How would we live our lives if it was done in the light of an eternal life? How would life be now knowing that this reality is not the real reality? I think it would be drastically different. I think we would love more, give more, forgive more, understand more, take time for others more, drop our opinions more, embrace more, hold to absolutes, give more grace to people and allow a greater love to drop into our temporal lives.

Shortly, a vast number of people in the of the world will celebrate Christmas. A time when the eternal visited the temporal (That's what Christmas is really all about). A time when the fragile meets the unbreakable! This tells us that the eternal does exist and it has given us reasons to live and live life well now!

This blog is my first blog and switching my journaling from paper to postings. My hope is that through it's silliness and seriousness all that read will face their own eternity.

4 comments:

jonathan said...

I always thought the most pondered question of mankind was,

"What's in it for me?"

Unknown said...

I agree! This time of the year states it best. Throughout homes selfishness will regin in light of the greatest selfless act in mankind.

Carlton Matthews said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carlton Matthews said...

Christmas is that time of year that brings out the very best and worst in our society. It is very hard to not get wrapped up in the commercialism of it all. Being a guy that enjoys the game of Christmas shopping, I have to always remember that Christ is what is important. Not the PS3's or Tickle Me Elmo's. Christ is the reason we celebrate.

Looking forward to Facing Eternity with you Pastor.