Here's The Thing

Today when I was reading Mandy's blog called Still Good I had these thoughts I have from time to time.

First, people give life too much credit.  It's miniscule.  It's puny.  It's insignificant.  If you believe what I believe then you believe in eternity.  If eternity is infinant time, then you need to ponder what percent 100 years or so is of infinity.  Miniscule.  Puny.  Insignificant.

People put all this effort into the wonders of living an extra 20 (or 50) years.  People describe the loss of a few decades with horror and dread.  From my new perspective the extra 50 years is like cutting your vacation short by heading for the airport 10 minutes earlier.  I've probably got less than 30 good years left and when it seems like too long, I just focus on the big picture and realize it's the length of a photographers flash.  For me it's a coping mechanism from time to time, but if you think your life is the most important thing, perhaps you should consider grabbing hold of something else.

The other thing that runs through my head is how everyone has it backwards.  I never prayed for Shane's recovery.  I always prayed for God's will.  In church today the preacher said when we pray we don't really wan't the answer to be "no" or "wait" we only want it to be "yes". 

Hind sight being 20-20 I would have traded the "yes" I got for either of those other two choices but that's only because I, like everyone else, have it backwards.

Did Shane lose his battle with cancer?  Is he worse off than people who "dodged the bullet" so to speak and spend the rest of their lives getting annual checkups with crossed fingers?  Seems like there is some deep philosophy in there somewhere but what I learned is that from the perspective of the big picture I am like life.

Miniscule.  Puny.  Insignificant.

I expect if I were more I would realize that the greatest will be the least, loosing is a win, and somehow many of us are being decieved. 

In all that I find another coping mechinism.  Backwards or forwards, when the dust settles the worst I can do is leave five or ten minutes early (or late) for the airport.  The vacation comes to an end anyway.