I'm sure we've all asked ourselves that very question time and time again. What is life about? "Life" is not about being popular and getting a great job and being successful. Most of us figured that out in middle school. Life is about everything in between. It is all the small lessons we learn day to day. Life is about spitting into the wind and having it hit you in the face. It is about peeing your pants in public and dealing with the humiliation. It is about getting drunk for the first time and laughing with friends about how stupid you acted. Life is about jumping off a swing and landing on a pile of rocks instead of the soft bed of woodchips you thought were there. There is a Thomas Merton quote that I love:
"In this most terrible of all wars, fought on the brink of infinite despair, we come gradually to realize that life is more than the reward for him who correctly guesses a secret and spiritual answer to which he smilingly remains committed. This is more than a matter of finding peace of mind or settling religious problems."
While Thomas Merton is one of the most spiritual and mystical people in the Christian tradition, I find this statement to be extraordinarily worldly. Too often do we forsake what we learn in the most desperate of times to cover up our insecurities. We should shout it to the rooftops. I am insecure! I am a failure!
Only in weakness are we strong. Seemingly nonsensical statements that flood the bible come to mind. Riddled with the enigma of contradictory statements, we finally come to understand that the world is not a safe, loving, comfortable environment. The world is an ancient beast that consumes life and recycles it into nothing more than carbon. First, understand that and the brutality of nature can set in. Second, realize that your life is finite. Soon you will be gone. Finally, enjoy every day like it was your last. Why store your treasures where moth and rust destroy?
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