Life

LIFE

By Debbie Hamilton

I experienced a bit of long-overdue silence, and what came to me was this:  Life is, and always has been, a struggle.  The fishing pole bends heavier for some than others, and nobody has yet to figure out why -- just as you never know, when you make a cast, if what attacks your fly is a finger-size baby snapper or a tiger shark that can turn you into bait.  Still, we struggle with the rod just the same.  Life to me is like a fish on the line.  When it is there, you feel it.  You fight it.  You gain line.  You lose line.  But if that line suddenly snaps, or the pole breaks, or a thousand other problems occur that fishermen use as excuses when the tension is gone, you feel it even more.  --Jimmy Buffett, A Salty Piece of Land, page 425

By the time most of us are mature enough to know the value of life and the minuscule time we have allotted to us on this beautiful globe, we have wasted more years than we have ahead of us.  The lessons we have learned the hard way cannot truly be conveyed to others, they are probably still too young to understand.  The lessons our elders tried to teach us suddenly start becoming clear.  I'm sure God knew what he was doing when He planned things this way.  Truth is, sometimes we feel like the fisherman and other times we feel like the fish...

People are dying for freedom in Iran while US President Barack Obama had a Hawaiian luau and Shepherd Smith is having an hour-long orgasm on Fox News following a car chase.  Celebrities die young and push national news off the airways while citizens are still losing their jobs and homes in spite of promises from the One.  We all have our priorities.   God must be very patient and He surely has a sense of humor.

God has given us one life.  Most Christians believe God has a plan for our lives, but too often we search for that great big thing out there that we think God wants us to do.  In reality, God's will for our lives may be as simple as taking care of family, setting an example to others, teaching the small and simple truths of the Bible, being a good citizen.

Our heart beats, our lungs fill with air, we smell the fragrances of our world, our mind remembers, calculates, creates, imagines all manner of things.  By the grace of God we continue to tick.  In our own small way, each of us continue to fight against the evils that exist in this world.  We fight to the best of our abilities.

Here in the US we have a congress voting on non-existent bills;  a government spending money they don't have and can never pay back;  a government taking over private businesses, using questionable groups to skew voting districts and take the census; politicians who sell or trade their votes for favors and feel no sense of obligation to the voters who put them in office.  I see a country that is split more than I have ever seen it before.

Someone stated that history is short, history for most of us is what we can remember in our own lifetimes.  Tick, tick, tick.  As we are confronted with wrongs, God expects us to speak out, to take a stand, to be either hot or cold, and not lukewarm.  After all is said and done, we hope, we pray and we have confidence that when God casts his line, when he throws his net, in His mercy he will find us good enough to keep. 

This body that God gave us also represents the body of Christ and the church, a living, breathing entity whose members and parts all need to function to keep the body working properly.  We are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, as Phillip Yancy and Paul Brand wrote -- a delicate fabric of cells as awesome and mysterious as the galaxies of space. Life is great as long as everything is working together the way our Heavenly Father intended.

The same goes for our country, a complicated mixture of humans all living together, all having a role in how the country goes.  When all works the way our Founding Fathers planned this is the brightest and best nation of all. 

When the human body has a cancer or invading illness, the surgeon does his best to cut it out to save the body.  As a nation we have a cancer growing, you can call it whatever you want -- Liberalism, Socialism, Fascism, -- by whatever label it needs to be cut out.  As healthy members of this American body each and every voter needs to do all he can to vote out the offending politicians in 2010 and 2012.  In order to save the patient, our beloved country, and give her a chance to live in Freedom in the future, this is our responsibility.

Right now in our country the fishing line is ready to snap, the fishing pole is bending and ready to break, it's time for action.  If you are mature enough to know the value of life and the minuscule time we have allotted to us, don't waste a minute.  Independence Day, July 4th, is the perfect time to join with others, be rejuvenated, inspired, refreshed, and renewed both in body, mind and spirit.  Celebrate life -- your life, the life of our country, the life of Freedom, Democracy, Capitalism...

Don't miss an opportunity to tell those near and dear, "I love you."

Comments

[rju13]

its a very well said compact of truths...
continue to write and inspire people Deb.
Lets LIVE this life!

[Herb]

Wow. Good one and too true. I agree about the needing new blood in Washington, too. A complete overhaul by the voters. Oh well, Life is like an ice cream cone, you either lick it or it drips on yer shoes.

[Steve Harkonnen]

Nice article indeed. We definitely need it. I find that if you spread love and good feelings it only comes back at you.

[Skunkfeathers]

As always, Debbie, great commentary and very well put.

[Debbie]

Thanks everybody. I just felt this was something that needed to be said. The quote from Jimmy Buffett inspired me. Plus hubby, the Grouch, is a fisherman when he has the time to get out on the river.

We need new blood in Washington and we need to keep them on a very tight leash.

[Angel]

beautifully done DEB!

[nancz]

you are so right, debbie - as usual - poignant piece. as with you, i'm trying my best, with the help of the Saviour, to make a difference. in my case a small difference.

[Rightwing Guy]

the page is looking great, havent been here in some time. I started a new page i added you to the blogroll.

[Kris]

This really puts things into perspective. We need to try to give our children as much "line" as we can. We may not be able to fix the government, but we can at least prepare our children in the Lord and in Life.

[Maggie Thornton]

Very appropriate post for celebrating our Nation's birthday - and straight from the heart. We ARE fearfully and wonderfully made and so is our country. My hubby and I have conversations almost daily about how we come out of this - what will each terrible Bill that passes cost the country before we can undo the damage? Can we undo it? How many generations will it take to turn the Liberal mindset back to sanity?

We have a bottom-feeder on the line and you know, some people have an affinity for that particular taste.

[Ron Russell]

When that fishing pole has reached its limit and the battle seems lost, just relax and hold what you have and the fish on the hook will tire or break the line, but in either case tomorrow we'll be back and try again. The people who I've always admired the most were those that never stay down, those that never give up, those that always come back and start again. The winner never quits and the quitter never wins.