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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Life Is But A Vapor


Have you ever looked out a window after it has rained and noticed those tiny raindrops on the window pane? Imagine the smallest one. That's like our lives....but a vapor.


We are born and if we are lucky we get to live to be 70, 80, even 90 and above. Bill Johnston lived to be 95. Before he died, he told me that he had lived a 'short life.' I used to think that did not make sense, but now it does.

I attended a funeral the other day and I couldn't help but notice a framed photograph sitting at the end of the casket. It was a photo the departed loved one and her nine siblings, taken when they were all very young. My mind was drawn back to my own childhood and all the fun I had. I thought, what if I could live my life twice, just to be able to be with my friends and loved ones more? I would want to spend one more hour each day playing baseball. I would visit my grandparents more often, I would sit and talk to my dad more.

One thing I would not do again is climb up in that tree with my friend, Tim, and skin all its bark off like we did that day with our pocketknives. Don't blame him, it was my idea. I really thought that naked tree was a work of art...and then my mom looked out the window and saw it. A couple of days later, I asked dad why the man was cutting the tree down and when he explained it, I understood.

None of us know how much time we have left. I often think about Oren Reneau, a local drug store owner and son of the legendary preacher, Isaac Tipton Reneau. The date was July 20, 1965. Harlin Dyer, a local businessman, bank cashier, former state representative and a prominent member of the methodist church in town, had died two days earlier. As they were rolling the casket out the Church door to go to the cemetery, Oren was heard to say, "I wonder who the next one will be?" Two days later, it was him.

Life is a vapor, but in Heaven there awaits an eternity. There, life will become more than a vapor, and I will get to be with my friends and loved ones for ever and ever and ever. There will be no end in Heaven. There will be no vapors to speak of.

In the Bible, James says not to worry about tomorrow, because we don't even know if we will be here. "It's like a vapor, here for a minute, and then it's gone," he says.

I like what Helen Keller said. "Live your life as a magnificent adventure, or don't live it at all."

2 comments:

  1. I typed in "Life is but a vapor" during a web surch and came across your site. It was like finding a crystal, clear, cool and refreshing spring in the mist of a dark, dry and dusty desert of thought. May God bless you for your faithful service.

    ReplyDelete

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