Thanatopsis

There’s a commercial which features an attractive ‘advancing in age’ woman and which advertises AARP, (or something of that sort). As ‘Wilma’ walks down a wooded lane, she gazes towards the camera and muses,

“I’m 60. I’ve got a long life ahead of me. Lots of plans.”

And every time, without fail, I find myself responding to the inanimate television set with,

“No, you DON’T have a long life ahead of you. I mean, you’re 60 years old! You’ve already lived a good ¾ of your life on the earth!”

There’s a scripture which reads,

“It is appointed unto man once to die…” (Hebrews 9:27)

And indeed, each and every man, woman, boy and girl on this planet 

…will die.

I mean, you only have to gaze upon the vibrant features of the masses of people who filled up Times Square at the end of WWII. It is poignant to consider that if we had the opportunity to bring back the survivors of that picture, and photograph them again, more pavement than people would be apparent.

But it really ‘comes home’ for me when I reflect on my dear fellow students who, seemingly, left us before their time. Folks with names like, Beth and Glennis and Robbie and Jerry. Young adults who succumbed to car accidents, warfare, and other providential events. 

Then, there are others, like myself, who are approaching the seventh, and eighth decades of their lives, and who were afforded the privilege of escaping almost certain death; time and time again. 

Long lives? Well, Yes, and No. Shakespeare observed that we strut and fret our lives upon a stage. And the implication seems to be that, in the scheme of things, 60, 70 or 80 years is like a fog in the morning which passes far too quickly, and gives way to what some characterize as the Unknown. 

Yet, for them who count themselves among the Redeemed, we have hinged our mortal, and subsequently, immortal lives on the Known; (and not the Unknown). 

There’s a simple, but powerful scripture which speaks volumes.

“Teach us to reflect on the brevity of life that we may apply our hearts to wisdom” (Psalm 90:12)

(God help us to do so).

I love the closing lines of a poem I memorized in the 9th grade.

So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon; but soothed and sustained
By an unfaltering hope, Approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. (Thanatopsis)

While I cannot disagree. ‘Life is hard and then we die.’ But we are not left alone to our fate, or at least we need not be. I am convinced that, whether our lives on earth are short or long by human standards that Death, ultimately, is of little consequence; at least for those who have trusted their eternal wherewithal to the sure mercies of the One Who loved us and gave Himself for us.


   By William McDonald, PhD. From (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 43. Copyright pending

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