This too shall pass.
Though used by medieval Persian poets before her, in Jewish
folklore, and Abraham Lincoln before her, this is one of the pearls of wisdom
my mother instilled in me. Although the
same holds true for good times, she usually drug out this handy phase when
things were not going so well. Feeling
down in the dumps about a girl? This too
shall pass. Experiencing troubles? This too shall pass. Acne?
This too shall pass.
The fact is, we exist in this world for a flash of time as
absurdly as a May Fly that lives for a day and dies. Our trials will pass; our joys will pass; and
ultimately we will pass. Are you
depressed about this? That, too, shall
pass one way or the other.
But right there is the joy of being a Christian. It doesn’t matter. We weren’t made for this world. And when things are going well we have someone
to thank and be joyful with. When things
are bad, we have someone to cry out to for help (or be angry at.) When we need hope we have someone to Whom to
look, when we are a lone we have someone to call upon, when things seem to be
meaningless, we have Him to look to give even the most mundane aspects of our
lives incredible and significant meaning.
If there is no God, I can only thank fate or luck, which is
to say, there is consciousness to thank.
(Even if there is a person to thank, what luck they were there.) When things are bad, there is nobody to blame
but myself and no help to cry out to.
There is a gamble that things might get better, but there is no hope
beyond luck, gumption, and surviving.
When life seems meaningless, it is because it is; we live, we die, and
so will, ultimately, the world with nobody to remember it. The only good in life is the pursuit of
happiness which when pursued directly is not ultimately satisfactory. (This is why you cannot joke with an atheist
about death on his death bed. There is
nothing hopeful about it.)
I look at this gravestone from a local grave yard. It is very interesting from a historical
point of view. The deceased did a lot of
good and accomplished some amazing things.
If there is no God, I find this gravestone exceedingly sad. Considering how old the universe is, in a
flash this stone will disintegrate and not even the casual passerby with a
camera walking his dog in the cemetery will ever even know he existed. The only joy the man it describes experienced
was the feeling of doing good with the thought that in the future someone might
be happy because of his works. He’s not
even sure anybody will remember him.
But if there is a God, what incredible significance the
information on the stone is! Our efforts
are not gas in the wind, but everlasting monuments even if this stone is not. That our joy will echo in eternity. That there is a consciousness, a Person, with
Whom and in Whom we will know and celebrate after our time here is over and
that these actions may lead others to share in this joy for which we were
made. Therefore picking up a used gum wrapper
in the park is not a good deed that may or may not be noticed by anybody, but
may stretch through eternity if it is done in love.
There are those that point to God as a crutch and a fantasy
to get through the rough points of life.
I believe evidence points otherwise.
But even if it turns out to be false, having dealt with the dying who
believe and of those who don’t, I would rather believe and be wrong than not
believe and be right – to die in some amount of hope and joy rather than the heavy
burden of passing into non-existence and meaninglessness.
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