Living for Eternity – Sunday, March 09, 1986
There is something incomprehensible, unsettling, almost maddening about this earthly existence. Here we are, surrounded by measureless oceans of space and infinite eons of time, while all about us there are signs that this mortal life is only temporary.
And yet, we continue to make little of it, refusing to consider the evidence, believing that things will always be as they are, that what we think important now will always be important: a man spends every waking hour at his chosen profession to succeed at last and then expire from exhaustion and high blood pressure; a woman focuses on fashion, ever changing her hair, makeup, and clothes in order to keep pace with the latest styles, only to discover that the deceased dress only once; another accumulates wealth and material possessions, then learns that the caravan of death allows no luggage.
The truth is that the worldly hopes men set their hearts upon are of little consequence to the eternities. Harsh words, for us, perhaps, but true words. But the lesson is not one of depression or surrender. The lesson of eternities is to love to the point, to prioritize life, making every moment yield its full measure of eternal value, accumulating that which does endure. All other activities are but frivolous props to the grand drama of souls along the ascending stairs of infinite time.
And these are some of the things that endure: the sweet love of husband and wife, authentic love developed over long decades of companionship and mutual service, love which not even death can dissolve; the affection of a mother for her children, unconditional love, without measure, without end; memories of home, of a faithful and dedicated father, of affectionate brothers and sisters, of a close and respectful family; and, charity endures, acts of kindness, acts of sharing, deeds of self-denial for others’ sake, offerings of time and substance for the poor and weak.
Nothing eternal is lost in the divine scheme of the universe. All charity, all character, all that love can bind together is forever alive. As one writer has penned:
Choose, then, the better part
To live now for all eternity
Where truth and love embrace
And time and space
Are metered by the heart.
March 09, 1986
Broadcast Number 2,951