Lent – Day 13: What is life about? – Jeremiah 18:18-20; Matthew 20:17-28

This question is as old as humanity itself? Our answer to this question will determine how we will walk through life and what our expectation of life will be. Is life about getting rich? Is life about being healthy? Is life about having children? Is life about having dependable friends? Is life about have a wonderful family? Is life about careers? Is life about falling sick? Is life about suffering? Is life about being successful? We can go on and on. We should always remember that life is a gift, a present from God. It is a present and anything that takes us away from the present takes us away from life.

To be alive is to experience the joy of laughter, the tears of sadness, the thrill of success, the pain of failure, the loneliness of betrayal, the freedom of love, the consolation of family, and the unfaithfulness or faithfulness of friends. The magic of life happens when we see the place of all these emotions and events in our life. Every event of our life has a redeeming significance. Sometimes we seek laughter, success, love, consolation and faithfulness and we run away from good things that seem to steal our comfort or calm or laughter or pleasure. A heart that has never known sadness, disappointment or heart break is dead; and an eye that has never known tears is blind.

Today the Lord calls us to walk with Him even to the cross.  He tells us that there is more to life than honour or authority. The boat of our life will surely experience storm, but what matters is who is in our boat when the storm happens. If we have ever seen a hatching egg, it seems as if the chick needs help and sometimes we feel like going to save it from the suffering of birth and yet it is this struggle that gives its feet strength to walk. Or if you have watched a butterfly emerging from its pupa, it also seems as if the butterfly needs help or needs to be saved from its suffering and yet it is this struggle that gives its wings strength to fly. When we embrace all of life, we will begin to see the magic of the ordinariness of life like sound, sight, smell, colour, flower, love, and the sounds of cities, and then we will be able to see the treasure in every ordinary event of our life.

Your life is a treasure whether you like it or not. May God bless you!