Is this all there is, my friend?

Ever wonder what life on earth is really all about? I have. In fact, I still do from time to time. Even when life seems to be going at it's best for me, I sometimes find myself wondering, "is this all there is?" I'm not sure why I do this. It could be because I'm yearning for my "real" home in heaven, but I don't know for sure.

I've been a Christian most of my life and have learned a few things, but one of the most important lessons I've learned is that there is so much more yet to learn. I was surprised to find that as my years grew on, I would both unlearn and relearn some important and exciting things about God at different stages in my life.

Yes, I still wonder about life, and to some extent I probably always will as long as I remain on planet earth. But I plan on always being a learner as well. As exciting as life can be, there is more. I'm sure of it! I don't know about you, but I don't want to leave this world having missed out on anything God had planned for me.

The birth of our ancestor's first sin not only brought about more sin and tragic results, but additional responsibilites as well. What the Bible refers to as God's "plan and purpose" for our lives, translates into a significantly important, though sometimes difficult job assigned to each one of us. Down through the ages, and up to today, God's Word tells us that we have a job to do...a job in addition to caring for the earth.

Though I believe we are each given different tasks according to personalty and gifts, one task we all have concerns Jesus' last words of instructions to his followers to "go" and to "tell" about God's love, to "baptize and make disciples" of all nations. I often struggle with a sense of failing in this particular area of God's plan and purpose for me. I don't believe I am alone in this.

I love the Lord with all my heart and have many stories to tell of God's incredible faithfulness. I have obeyed God's call to "go tell" on several occasions and will still do so when the door opens. I try to share God's love as much as I know how to, but sadly, I am afraid I am not as faithful as I could be, or even wish to be.

I know I miss many opportunities. I'm in my late 60's and am still trying to find out exactly what it is that God wants me to do.

A couple of years I went to Ecuador for a short mission trip with my Life Group at church. It was a wonderful, inspiring, and hopefully a time of blessing for others. A short mission trip, yes, but I walked in obedience. I was only there to help a missionary couple with the children in their mission school. Did it help any in the grand scheme of God's plan? I'm not sure. I pray so.


I am reading Richard Foster's book on Prayer and feeling quite inadequate in my efforts at prayer. But something I've just read made me stop today and consider that perhaps I'm "trying" too hard! Perhaps it's not suppose to be a matter of desperately trying to "find" God's will for my life. Perhaps, after all, it's the small steps of obedience that are God's plan and purpose for someone like me. Or for any of us!


Perhaps if I keep going through the doors as they open for me, praying,(even if they are basically thought prayers thrown up to God as if He were a good friend!)keep seeking to love God more, to know and understand His graciousness and continue asking God to help me to really love others as myself...then perhaps one day I'll find out that this was what life is all about!


I think it might be okay, it might even be more than okay actually, to simply rest in the Lord at this point in my life. Anyone who has read some of my other writings will recognize that I've struggled with this issue of how I spend my time and of not "doing" enough for the Lord for some time. This seems to be my spiritual archilles heel in that it opens a door to the temptation of feeling that God is not pleased with me. When I am thinking right, however, I see this kind of thinking for what it is...as one of Satan's lies set out to discourage.


Feeling good about taking time to simply "rest" in the Lord has surfaced as being of the utmost importance as of late. I don't want to give up on growing spiritually, or any other way for that matter, simply because I have a few years on me...that's not what I mean at all. But, if I'm honest, I will admit that my spiritual "get up and go" is often waning as a sense of tired wonder overtakes my mind from time to time. This is especially true when I ponder all that I am not doing!


I grew up in an era when a song, "Is That All There Is?" was popular by a singer named Peggy Lee. These words seem to have stayed with me all these years, "Is that all there is my friend? If that's all there is, my friend, then let's keep dancing!" The words might sound cynical and perhaps they were meant to be. But I find comfort in them in an odd sort of way. To me, "let's keep dancing" means to keep on loving, seeking, and walking in obedience to God.


What's life about? Well, for each one of us I suppose there will be some commonalities as well as differences. For me, it's what I've just mentioned. Sure, it's still about struggle, pain, loss, and much of what Adam and Eve experienced in a sinful world. But it's also about the occasional successes and joys, about God's incredible and unconditional love, about Jesus' sacrifice being all that will ever be needed to cover my sins and make this life a stepping stone to the next, and about God the Holy Spirit who is my Guide, my Counselor, my Comforter and who will one day accompany me to my real Home where I will understand the true meaning of what life on this earth was all about anyway.

Meanwhile, "If that's all there is, my friend, then let's keep dancing!"