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Isn’t It Great to Be Alive
Isn’t It Great to Be Alive
For the one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears attend to their prayers but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil (1 Peter 3:10-12)
It goes without saying that we are born, we live and one day we die. No one knows whether the time between birth and death will be only a short time or whether it will stretch out for many years. Regardless of the number of years we live, few or many, we should always think about tomorrow as a great gift from God (James 4:13-15, Psalms 90:9, 12).
With the passing of each day we find ourselves just one step closer to the moment when we will fold up this earthly tent, turning the last page of life on planet earth. I know not how you feel but as for me, I love this life and even with all the difficult days that cause heartaches, sorrows, burdens and temptations that tend to test my faith, I want to stay here for as long as possible. The rich blessings of God each day far outweigh all the difficulties of this life (Psalms 1:1-3, Hebrews 12:1-3, Isaiah 40:28-31, Ephesians 1:3).
Today, the petition of Psalms 39:4 is most meaningful, “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days , what it is; that I may know how frail I am,” At best, our life here is only for a brief span of time and since we do not know when it will it will come to an end, we should, with all our being be reaching forth to that which lies ahead (Philippians 3:12-14).
Life has a way of passing so quickly. All too soon, we reach that age in which we find ourselves on memory lane, remembering how it was in earlier years of life. We think about things that we should not have done as well as things we should have done but did not do. We think about the hopes and dreams of days now long past and suddenly we wonder where all the years went and how did we get to this age so quickly,
I pray we all understand that regardless of our age there is a very fine line between living and dying (1 Samuel 20:3). But let me tell you, it is an awesome feeling to think about being at an age in which you know the days ahead are a lot fewer than the days behind you. It is not a feeling of dread or doom. It is one of excitement and great anticipation (2 Corinthians 5:6-9).
Today, as I think about life, I recall some words that I do not remember where I found them or who said or wrote them but I love the thought in them: “Life is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic gift.”
Charles Hicks, Gallatin Tennessee
