June 2nd, 2020: One's Life Reflects the Heart

 Life reflects the heart

I am going to be 62 in a couple of days. Mentally, I am not feeling my age. Birthday is strange to me because I had this wicked thought when I was younger. Why should we celebrate the fact we are just one more year closer to death? However, this year's birthday is different. 2020 has been a year to remember and not to remember at the same time. Since March this year, as the pandemic spread around the world, I found myself dealing with many things on many levels. There are also many thoughts.

Think about how quickly things can change in life for all of us. Nothing can be or should be taken for granted now. One day we can go anywhere we want, see anyone we like, eat anything we desire...The next day all of that is taken away. We realize that our notion of freedom is artificial and fragile. Are we truly free? Why are we so easily manipulated by various forms of media, and special interest groups? Maybe we are not at all free and are just apprehensive.

Think about what the future would be like for future generations without any miracles from God. Our children and grandchildren will have a lot more uncertainties to work through. Technology will continue to make things happen a lot faster. However, being fast-moving without any moral compass is a risky journey. If we take time and think about how social media has created a great challenge for us in terms of discerning the truth, we are facing an immense predicament in navigating our ways through the jungle of false information and "fake news".

Think about the intense distrust that now exists within humanity. We, as human beings, have become alienated to ourselves, to one another, and God. Many aspects of human brokenness will impact this alienation further. We fight for equality with a strong voice while learning to create some other forms of inequality. We fight for our justice while having no qualms about being unjust to one another. We fight for truth by concocting a whole bunch of new lies. We are fighting against "murders by the police" and the many deaths of indigenous women while celebrating the genocide of unborn people.

Think about how important it is to care for the poor and to take care of the sick while knowing how selfish we can be. We are not willing to sacrifice some of our privileges so that others can have their daily food, safe housing, and decent medical care. We talk about fighting for equality and protecting our ways of life at all costs in the same breath.

So I will celebrate my birthday with these convicting and challenging thoughts:

Proverbs 27:19

"As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart."

Ephesians 5:15-16

"Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."

John 6:35
"Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'" voice

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