Life...the beauty of life, the sanctity of life, the mystery of life. The past two weeks I have been thinking of life and its beauty. I went to Body Worlds Exhibition at the Tech Musuem a couple of Saturdays ago, and was at times overwhelmed by the still life before me. The majority of the sections were faceless, the muscles had been removed from the skeleton, or muscle slices were displayed. However, one section was on early life -- the unborn child. Children were captured in various stages of development, from 1 week to 28 weeks. The children had died before they had experienced life. The causes of death were not stated, but just to see them there lifeless and knowing that they hadn't experienced life outside of the womb, was a heavy hammer to my heart.
The week progressed and I was again confronted with not only the beauty of life, but also the frality. At work we set out to take a walk, and the elderly neighbor next door had fallen down in the garden patch, and as we passed he called for help. It was saddening to see this man, who at one point in time had stood tall and erect, and who was able to garden without fear of falling, now reduced to his limitations.
I was confronted furthermore with this motif in McManus' message which spoke of Life being short. Then came Sanctity of Life Sunday at church, and abortion was mentioned, and the idea of holiness of life was stressed.
As my mind still dwelt on life, I read this week (as did many others) of the death of Heath Ledger. Life is short. Life is beautiful. Life is fragile.
What do we, what do I do with my life to make it count? What do I do to enhance the beauty of life that God has so richly lavished on me? Do I squander my days away, and thereby squander my life? Or do I embrace life and live it to the fullest? Living in the fullness of God's grace and mercy, living the abundant life He has called us each to. Life -- even the messy parts, are beautiful. We know beauty by the ugly. We know joy by sorrow. Do we we need to know death to know life? I think in some regards yes. To know life -- to know Jesus to the fullest, for he IS the way, the truth, and the LIFE - we have to know death, we have to know and admit our sins, we have to confront the option of death, and turning from it, to embrace life, to embrace Christ.
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2 comments:
Hey, nice posting. Life is short but my advice to anybody is to do unto others as you would have them do to you and maybe good things will come of it.
Try and spread a little happiness as you go about your day is a great philosophy. :-)
Ellie, beautifully expressed and provocative. Equally, your heart and thoughts as a young woman among this culture as a contrarian.
Now about something of lesser weight... should I read any more into your admiration for McSteamy - I mean the Steamy one... er... Steamy I and II?
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