Several years ago, while standing in line to order a hamburger, I overheard a teenage girl ask her dad “what is your favorite word?” I’ll never forget his response. Without hesitation he simply said “life”. I confess that I knew this family and was aware of his military service in I fear the word ‘life’ has lost the essence of what it represents. We are exposed to numerous murders, both fictional and in reality, on TV programs and national and local news. We hear of death in statistics related to hurricanes, wars, terrorist acts, car accidents, etc.. We are so inundated with this information that death has about as much impact on us as hearing the stats from the latest Cowboy football game. We step on a bug, see dead animals on the side of the road, or even drive by a full parking lot at a funeral home with little to no emotion for the life that was lost.
L-I-F-E is not just a wonderful word. It is what we experience every day. It is a choice over just existing. How do we choose ‘life’ over mere existence? We must learn to appreciate it for what it is. American Indians believed everything had a spirit, every animal, tree, plant or stone. Their lives depended upon the life of ‘mother’ earth, to the point that some Indians believed a farmer’s plow ‘ripped the flesh’ of their provider. They believed an animal’s spirit would submit to their weapons as an offering to feed their family. There was a respect for life.
God created life! He even made a covenant with man and animals in Genesis chapter nine. In John chapter ten, Jesus says He came to give us abundant life. Life is not just a word, not just a gift, not just something to respect. It is a choice and should be experienced and appreciated to the fullest. A country song expressed it this way, “it is not how many breaths we take, it is how we breathe”!!!
Doug Burns
No comments:
Post a Comment