Think of it this way . . .
Have you heard that nothing’s for certain in this world but death and taxes? It’s not true, of course. You may also have heard that we’re all terminal – that we will all die eventually, one way or another. There’s another thing that’s just as inevitable: Growth. If we don’t die young, we may live to grow old. I believe we should be so grateful for such a gift and make the very best of it. A wise woman once remarked to King David (2 Samuel 14:14), “Our lives are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again.” The brevity of our lives behooves us to not dilly-dally around. When growing stops, at least for people and other living creatures, the result is death. Therefore, we shouldn’t take living and growing for granted. Perhaps some things really can be worse than death, such as a misspent, wasted life.
“One great and comforting thing in life is that as long as you live you have the privilege of growing. You can learn new skills, engage in new kinds of work, devote yourself to new causes and make new friends.” -Murray Banks, How to Live with Yourself, p 208
I take delight in this statement from Peter Pan, “To live. To live will be an awfully big adventure!” Seems, though, he preferred living over growing, right? But they go together.
We’re born knowing next to nothing – there’s almost everything to learn! While living and growing we have time to “stop, look and listen,” to mimic, think and catch-on – time, then, to experiment, try and discover all that we’re capable of, in order to achieve certain feats successfully. And that’s just so self-motivating.
“The more you invest in learning to live well, the more likely you are to attain a better and more rewarding life.” -ibid
“Accept the challenges of life: adventure, experiment, explore, make mistakes; and learn by them. Don’t sit and bemoan your errors; nor become a victim of regret. You’ve tried, you’ve explored, and learned. Isn’t that worth something?” –ibid, p 211
“To life, to life; L’chaim!” -Rab Tevya, The Fiddler, sang in Fiddler on the Roof
-John D.
