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Is it about fame, fortune, family, faith? In this column, Falvo contemplates what makes life truly worth living. His conclusions, and how he arrives at them, will tease your brain, tickle your funny bone, and tether your world to a steady Guide.
Life
by Falvo Fowler
Three times when life really makes itself known to you are when you see birth, think you’ll lose your life, or when you know someone who has lost their life. There are other times, but they are more the “ah” moments (such as the first kiss, graduation, the marriage proposal, etc.).
When you think you know that you may lose your life, you stop. But you also start seriously thinking about life itself—your life and what you’ve done with it. There are no answers. And often times, questions are just nebulous hangings in the back of your mind. You know, the hook in the question mark that sort of hooks on to some recess in your brain and makes you wonder about nothing in particular and everything in general at the same time—those types of questions.
I sit here in front of my computer screen typing characters to meet a deadline, because I am excited about having my own column. I sit here typing words, because this is something I want to be a part of. But I sit here dealing with life in two separate ways.
My wife and I are expecting our first child. She felt her first contractions this morning, so we’re ready to head to the hospital when it’s time. I wanted to write this article after the baby was born, because I figured I could talk about life from the perspective of a new (and very tired) father.
But the expectation of life, in this instance, has me wondering what my daughter will be like years from now. Will her choices be her own? Or will she zombie-like follow a mob of friends into areas she would not choose to go on her own? Will she live life? Or will she just go through the motions? Will God be an integral part of her existence? Or will she relegate Him to special events and the seventh-day (sometimes)?
In other words, will she choose to enjoy life? Or will she live most of her life like I lived mine?
Twelve years ago, I hit a wall. Not a physical one, but one that had me re-evaluating my life and wondering why I was a Christian. Studying the Bible for myself, rather than for an assignment or a requirement, had me understanding Scripture from a realistic point of view. I could’ve philosophized it to death, but I don’t think that’s what Scripture was meant for. As I read through it, I realized it was about real people.
And real people, those people in the Bible, made mistakes. All the time! But regardless of the mistakes they made, they always came back to live their lives. And that’s what made the difference. They relished their life with God and realized there was only emptiness without Him.
It must’ve taken courage to recognize that their lives would be empty if not for Him. It’s always difficult to acknowledge that we need help.
I guess that’s why I keep praying that my soon-to-arrive daughter will always realize God in her life, and that she will evolve in her relationship with Him. Because if you look at it through Scripture, the only true evolution is your relationship with God. Life, because you continually get to know God, is always educational and always good—though not always easy.
The other reason I think of life as I type these characters on the screen is because I have to see the doctor next week to schedule an appointment for surgery.
A couple of months after we discovered we were having a baby, I learned that I have a tumor. I spent the first months battling the idea that I might lose a limb or lose my life. And what with the baby and all, it was more than I wanted to handle right now.
The question “Why me?” popped up several times. But it seemed silly, because it almost meant I was thinking that someone else should’ve gotten the bad news. And that would just be meanspirited.
But there is a text in Scripture that tells me (and again, it means more when you study it for yourself than just reading it in an article) that says God is faithful, and that He won’t let you go through stuff you can’t bear (1 Cor. 10:13).
That just hits you, doesn’t it? If you look at that text, it just says that God has so much faith in you, that the tough times that happen in your life are times He knows you can overcome, otherwise He wouldn’t have allowed them to happen to you.
Sometimes, I wish He didn’t have that much faith in me. But most times, I know that with Him, I can overcome.
Occasionally, I wish I could muster a fraction of that faith in Him. When I do, He empowers me to move mountains (Matt. 21:21). Now that truly is a life worth thinking about.
But even more, it truly is a life worth living.
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