Some people see life as a stone, it exists, you can break it, or rest on it. You can even through it away, which may harm another in the process.
Then some people see life as a precious vase. You are careful about what you put into it, because you don’t want to overfill it prematurely and breaking it. You don’t want to drop it, and you don’t want to rough house it. But you probably love showing it off until it is stolen from you.
I say it is like an orange, but then I say it is also like most metaphors. It is what you perceive it to be. It is finite, infinite, disposable, precious, cheap, priceless, growing, aging, fragile, strong, etc.
Why an orange though? Because oranges have seeds that you can plant to get new fruit. Oranges ripen to real sweetness when they are not prematurely picked from the tree. Oranges can be used to fill hunger and thirst. Doesn’t that sound like an ideal life?
The point of all of this is how you view your own life, not your circumstances, but that living force in you, will help shape your destination.
- My life is going nowhere and is a crummy rock that doesn’t move; or, My life is an amazing rock that can be built up with others to make things.
- My life is fragile and will break at any moment; or, My life may not be the strongest, but it has its own beauty.
- My life is past ripe, starting to rot; or, my life is becoming the starting point for new life. Let me make it as rich for that next life as possible.
I really don’t know what motivated me to write this, but as dower, angry, and hard as I am, I am a closet optimist. I can only believe that is because I see my future, and I have seen that it doesn’t end. Even if my flesh gives away, my future is already established.
No, I don’t have children, but I have made changes that have helped others: The lady who had a flat, that I rescued. The friend who had anger issues that saw that I don’t give up. The group of bible scholars that have turned to more of a depth of the scriptures over the shallows of dogma.
Even if man is wiped away, and the world burned to ashes, a time when the universe forgets that we were even here, I have made those changes, and that cannot be undone.
Don’t see life as futile, see it for what it is, a moment to bare its own fruit. Live vibrantly off of that fruit, but be patient that you don’t pick it prematurely. Patience has its reward when well invested, not in quality, but in wisdom.
My investment is in love, patience, Christ Jesus, and you who read this. Grace be with you from the Body of Christ.
Brian By Experience 