Conventional wisdom gives us many pithy sayings such as,
“We’re here for a good time, not a long time”, “YOLO (you only live once)”,
“Live for the moment”, etc. Most Christians are rightfully horrified at the
apparently flippant attitude towards life that such slogans seem to promulgate.
Yet Qoheleth writing in Ecclesiastes reminds us that indeed much of life is
meaningless, a mere chasing after the wind. All of our plans and schemes so
often come to naught that it would be wise to learn to eat, and drink, and
enjoy our lives. Rather than being “busy” always (my constant crime), we would
do well to learn to rest and enjoy the day that the Lord has made. As Jean
Vanier reminds us in his book Community
and Growth,
If we are in community only to ‘do
things’, its daily life will not nourish us; we will be constantly thinking
ahead, because we can always find something urgent to be done. If we live in a
poor neighbourhood or with people in distress, we are constantly challenged.
Daily life is only nourishing when we have discovered the wisdom of the present
moment and the presence of God in small things. It is only nourishing when we
have given up fighting reality and accept it, discovering the message and gift
of the moment. If we see housework or cooking simply as chores which have to be
got through, we will get tired and irritable; we will not be able to see the
beauty around us. But if we discover that we live with God and our brothers and
sisters through what has to be done in the present moment, we become peaceful.
We stop looking to the future; we take time to live. We are no longer in a
hurry because we have discovered that there is gift and grace in the present of
the book-keeping, the meetings, the chores and the welcome. (Jean Vanier,
Community and Growth, 170).
When rest has been established, and an appreciation for “life
in the moment” has been cultivated, God’s immanent work in his creation becomes
exceedingly, abundantly clear to our eyes, we can say truthfully along with the
songwriter, Lord, “these days I can’t find where you’re not”.
Life is a gift, Christ’s purpose in coming was not to negate
that gift but to say yes to it. He has established a reality in which Life can
be lived in wonder and fullness, giving thanks to God from whom all blessings
flow. You only live once, why not make the most of it to the glory of God the
father, maker of heaven and earth and Lord of Life.
In a similar vein, my great-grandfather Norman Turnbull
wrote this poem in deep appreciation of the treasure that life is. He
understood that the living of life itself is a great reward and that we may be
content in the day to day, not restlessly yearning for some utopian ideal that
will never arrive.
The Wealth of Life
Life is ever new,
each morning a different day;
It pulses through all
our souls afresh, beckons us on our way.
Life teaches us strength
and love if we its lesson will heed,
Forgetting self in
the nobler task of helping another in need.
Life itself is a
picture, we daub with the hues of time
Bending ourselves to
sorrow, or heights of glory sublime.
Life seems a burden
to some, to others a blithesome play;
We make or mar, but
on each alone falls the burden of the way.
Over and all around
us are worlds we may never know
Yet every spring life
moves anew beneath the soft white snow.
Perpetual,
everlasting, a promise sure as the sun,
Life covers again the
earth with green, new growth from the sod has sprung.
Growth of the spirit,
growth of the world, growth of God’s own good,
Life the beginning,
life the end, each must be understood.
Life is our school
and we live it, each in his choice of way;
Lessons we learn at
our father’s knee were taught in our Saviour’s day.
Whatever our greatest
riches and plans and rosy dreams of wealth,
None offer to us a
greater reward than just living life itself.
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