“All men die, but not all men truly live” is one of my favorite quotes from the movie Braveheart. Death is universal and there is absolutely no way any human can avoid or escape the inevitable ending of our earthly journey; we will all die one day but the sad reality is that only some of us would have actually LIVED. The race will be over for every one of us, but only some of us would have finished the race, while the majority of us are still waiting for everything to fall in the right place to start the race. This life is not a rehearsal my friend, this is all we got, whether we do anything with it or not we will all soon be history. “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live” says Norman Cousins
Dale Carnegie once said “One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.” Recently I did a couple of funerals that really made me think about life and how we often squander many God given opportunities because we are waiting for something more miraculous or spectacular to happen. Though waiting can be a virtue or a good discipline when we consciously engage our mind in understanding God’s plan for our life, often we are just waiting passively with a blank head and heart for someone to come and change things in our life.
The race will be over for every one of us, but only some of us would have finished the race…This life is not a rehearsal my friend, this is all we got, whether we do anything with it or not we will all soon be history.
As the old sayings goes “Life is like a Taxi ride: The meter keeps on ticking whether you’re going anywhere or not”. Unlike many things in life which you could save to use later, time is one of those things which we either use it or lose it. Since the day we were born our life clock has been ticking, the count-down is going on even as you read this article, whether we are living or not, one thing is sure: we are in the process of dying and are closer to the finish line today than we were yesterday. What makes wasting time or pointless waiting inexcusable is the fact that none of us know when our time is up. It’s like a guy who is waiting on the starting blocks of a sprint after the gun is fired, well if you wait too long, whether you make any progress or not, you will be asked to clear the lanes for the next round of athletes.
It’s like a guy who is waiting on the starting blocks of a sprint after the gun is fired, well if you wait too long, whether you make any progress or not, you will be asked to clear the lanes for the next round of athletes.
Henry David Thoreau said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” What a waste, each of us was created by God for something special, something only you were designed to do in a given context. Somewhere and somehow in the journey of life we come to a point where we lose the vision and passion for life, we convince ourselves that nothing good can come out of our efforts, we are just another casualty or victim whose fate is sealed for nothing, like many others who lived before us. Instead of living our lives with passion, we slide to the sidelines of life simply waiting for something to happen in life. Dr Seuss makes this profound observation “Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite…or waiting around for Friday night …or a better break…or another chance. Everyone is just waiting.”
There is a story told about a paralyzed man in the Bible (John Chapter 5), who had been waiting for 38 years next to a pool in Jerusalem for a miracle to happen in his life. His reason for not living his life was, he was crippled and he had no one to help him, Jesus commands him to pick up his mat and walk, he is healed and starts his new life. What would you say to this guy if after being healed, comes back and lies down in the same spot next to the same pool waiting to begin his LIFE? Well, you may think that is crazy, but I think some of us who have received the gift of eternal life from Jesus sometimes come back and instead of living a life of purpose and passion, we settle at the same spot (emotionally and spiritually) where we just wait to die. If God has a purpose for creating us, I believe he has an even greater purpose for saving us, to be a blessing to others. Apostle Paul says in Eph 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works…”.
Read the conversion story of the apostle Paul in Acts 22:8-10, his first question when he encountered God was “Who are you Lord?” (Vs 8) and his very next question after realizing that he met Jesus the Lord was “What shall I do Lord? (Vs 10). I believe that is the question all of us, especially those who have been delivered from the crippling bondage of sin should ask often in life; what shall I do with my life Lord? This life is too precious a gift to squander in vague and pointless waiting, don’t go back to the same spot and wait for someone to do something in your life, Jesus already started the good work in you, so press on to your God given goal. What are you waiting for? Are you LIVING or just dying? W M Lewis once said “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” In the epic words of Tim Robbins in the movie Shawshank Redemption “it comes down to a simple choice, get busy living or get busy dying.”
This life is too precious a gift to squander in vague and pointless waiting, don’t go back to the same spot and wait for someone to do something in your life, Jesus already started the good work in you, so press on to your God given goal. What are you waiting for?
– – Author: Rev. Francis Burgula – –
