Tonight I sit, overwhelmed with a conviction that I believe should be shared by all of my brothers and sisters in this family of humanity. We all have a deep commonality running through each of us – we all are connected by the thread of finitude. Life, as grand as it can be, only lasts a whisper in the verse of eternity and the impact of that brevity is powerful. I am reminded of a quote by the renowned long distance runner Steve Prefontaine. He wisely said, “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”
It is one of my greatest fears that my brothers and sisters around the world, as well as myself, will one day find ourselves at the end of our days with the regret of having wasted that precious gift. My heart hurts at the thought of just how dreadful that realization could be.
I do believe that there is value in each and every person who has ever been blessed by God’s graceful hand enough to have known the experience of life – even life in the briefest glimpse. That value is embedded within our very nature by God’s creating us in His image. That value can never be taken from us, no matter how full or empty we decide to live. With that being said though, I can’t help but sense a reality of even greater value.
If you have ever taken part in any philosophical discussion, you may have heard the idea of existence being expressed in terms of essence and particularity. Essence is that thing (or those things) that exist beyond the particulars. The essence of life then, is transcendent above and beyond the particularities of life; and those particularities can be anything from individual experiences to individual entities. What I have become all too aware of is this: Life happens at numerous levels and if we are to take hold of it and find true meaning and use in it, then we must focus our energies and efforts on spending time at the essential level because it is the only one that will last beyond us.
That understanding has been of vital importance in my life and will continue for the rest of my days until I must give up the gift of life in this world. It has and will continue to act as the foundational base for my entire decision making paradigm. To allow potential to be wasted for any reason, be it laziness, fear or even ignorance, is to spit in the face of our Creator (or Gift-Giver). There are no barriers too great for us to reach our potential – after all, it wouldn’t be our potential if we couldn’t reach it.
Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters to stir one another into action. I urge you to examine yourselves and your world; to take ownership over the gift that you’ve been given so as to take responsibility for the potential that lies within each one of you – within each one of us – and to never allow yourselves or your neighbors to prefer comfort to compassion, pleasure to perseverance, membership to meaning, or perception to participation.
Our lives are but a whisper, so let yours be heard.
