Entry 4
“The widow who is really in need and left alone puts her hope in God and continues day and night to pray and to ask God for help. But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.” 1 Timothy 5-6 (NIV)
Humans are not caged animals. We have freedom to travel and to chose various paths for our lives. There are so many options! In this day in age, you can get into a car and drive anywhere. You can go out to eat, visit a friend, go to work to earn money, etc. Eventually, you have your own visions regarding the life you want to build for yourself. You determine what you call amazing and satisfying. Competing with others, you gain status and a sense of accomplishment. However, later on, your body starts to slow down. Reaching old age can feel debilitating. At this point, you are bummed and feel helpless because you cannot turn back time to relive or redo moments. Life is ending and you feel strange because you cannot fathom what it will be like to no longer live.
During life while we are striving for our goals, something may come about that hinders our path. Maybe a loss of a job or a cancer diagnosis. Feelings of loneliness overtake us as we struggle with emotional pain. These moments remind us in the middle of our lives that we are not unstoppable. When misfortune strikes, we are forced to think about our limitations. It is a blessing in disguise. If we are deprived, we ponder about what we lack. We constantly dwell on our sorrow as it overtakes us. Hopefully, we feel the urge to turn to God to ask for His assistance.
Remembering our mortality puts us back on track to live for what matters: obeying God. God withdraws us from our daily patterns to guide our lives back to true meaning. By recognizing we are not in control, we have the capacity to be open to what God has in store. We miss out when we do not acknowledge God in our lives. God knows what we truly desire, because He formed us. Living outside of our God-given purpose is like we do not exist. We do not contribute to God’s Kingdom while we are in this state.