This is not an ‘of course’ statement. Life is not easy. I’m not certain it’s meant to be. I sometimes think it’s like being in school. There are life lessons to be learned, here and now, because I really don’t believe this life is all there is. What we learn in this life will be put in context and use in the next. And don’t simply dismiss what I’ve said out of hand. I know the phrase sounds somewhat precious, but life requires us to be engaged. Those who try to only look on from the sidelines are truly throwing away their life.
I have always been intrigued with Solomon’s comments. Here was a man that asked for wisdom and received everything as a result. But he also ended up saying that everything was futile, vanity of vanities. Not a particularly positive view. How did he get to this point? What happened that caused him to walk away from an involvement in his life? Partially, I would speculate, is because he was looking only at the carnal world. He had lost his perspective.
Do you think that he felt he had experienced everything there was to be experienced and now he was bored? There was nothing left for him? If so, then he was wrong. Each day has new surprises, new opportunities, new… and this is what is exciting. However, I don’t believe we should look at our current residence as the end of our all living. Scripture provides us with countless verses attesting to the fact that this life is only the beginning, that there is life after death. But how often do we have this mindset when we are making decisions or simply responding in the day?
There are those who never look at the now but focus all their attention on the next life. In my opinion that is throwing away a wondrous gift. Life is worth the living and yes, it is the beginning. But… what a beginning. Life beckons us but we have to respond. And while it can be argued that it’s what you do with that ‘then’ focus, I don’t believe that we are meant to only look to ‘then’. We are created to engage our now, to be alive in our life. Yes, our treasure is not in this life but we bring who we are now into our next. Life requires our willingness to experience all that happens and learn from it. What will we use it for in the next life? Notta clue. I just know that we have been created to be involved and alive … now.
