Embracing Life and Death (Part 1)

Mr. Webster says that “embracing” is “to accept something or someone readily or gladly — to use an opportunity eagerly.”

I would like to take the next four Hope and Healing blogs to discuss our seeing life AND death as something to be eagerly embraced. Stay with us in this. There will be six points of emphasis.

(1) We need to spend our time on earth wisely.

Ephesians 5:15-17 (Easy-To-Read Version)
15 So be very careful how you live. Live wisely, not like fools.
16 I mean that you should use every opportunity you have for doing good, because these are evil times.
17 So don’t be foolish with your lives, but learn what the Lord wants you to do.

Muhammed Ali said, “Do not count the days; make the days count.”

Live your life to the fullest every day. One good thing about the COVID-19 crisis is a reminder that death comes, and life can be cut short, in all shapes and sizes and ages. I used to say that death is the last event of life. I should have said that death is the last event of life on earth. NBC News reported in 2016 that 80% of Americans said they believe in an afterlife in 2014, up from 73% in 1972-74. 

Time is short and I want those who live after me to grieve my passing for just a short while and then get on with living life to the glory of God and the betterment of their fellow men.

To make a difference, you do not have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or _____ (fill-in-the-blank.) You just need to actively care! So, are you making a difference every day in someone else’s life?

Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien’s novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He said it well when he said, “All we have to decide is what we do with the time that is given to us!”

When I was a child, we didn’t get much candy. Halloween was my second most favorite holiday, just behind Christmas. Trick or Treat was my dream job. We had a Halloween party with the church down at the 4-H Clubhouse. Everybody would dress up and try to fool others as to who they might be under the mask. I saw people come in different cars, and even “borrow” an extra kid or two to confuse the detecting of identities. Additionally, my brother and sister and I made the rounds of the neighborhood on Halloween night and it seemed we collected more candy than they had at Seibert’s grocery in the penny candy case. 

What did I do with all my treats? I developed a strategy with a long-term view. I knew I had six or seven weeks to make them last until the Christmas candy season.

I think life is something that we should enjoy every day here and > 80% of us believe that the best is yet to come. Let us live like we say we believe!