Mt 7:6,12-14 The Narrow GateAs we continue to un-crack so many secrets about life and about the our Universe, it becomes increasingly clear that billions, not millions, of factors had to come to play at the right time, the right place and for the right reasons in order for intelligent life as we know it to exist on earth.
How amazing is life? For starters, it’s not like we find it everywhere in the Universe. It’s very hard to find it anywhere other than earth! And so far, nada!
H.G. Wells once said, “Man is utterly insignificant compared to the size of the universe!” G.K. Chesterton replied to his friend’s contention, “Man is small compared to the nearest tree.” We tend to forget the most obvious: The earth is bursting with life. It is absolutely beautiful and if man were not on this planet, it would be a beautiful waste. The earth is privileged beyond all other planets in that it has life, and above all it has human life that is capable of acknowledging it and discovering it.
One could say that we are a privileged planet. We are located within the Galactic Habitual Zone. Any slight variation (compare it to the width of your hair) and there would be no life! We are surrounded by water, in liquid form (in it of itself a miracle!), and we have a tremendous abundance of it, enough to support a large diversity of life and absorb the heat from the sun and maintain the right processes such as greenhouse effects, the carbonate-silicate weathering cycle, a myriad of biological processes, ocean circulation, clouds, ice sheets, plate tectonics and its associated phenomena! So many factors work in harmony in providing us an exquisite dance sequence and galactic masterpiece that is optimized and balanced.
I could go on and on but my purpose is not to discuss the Universe and how we got here, but rather life and living it to the full.
We know that for life to exist, it required certain conditions, very narrow conditions. The same holds true for eternal life. There are certain conditions that must be met in order to live life to the full and to live it eternally, regardless of whether or not we think it is fair or unfair.
Life itself is not fair, it is a privilege.
Can we simply throw away or waste our natural resources, our greatest resources and expect the earth to sustain us indefinitely? Of course not! Then we should not think less of the greatest natural resource on this planet: a child. Yes, a child, full of potential, full of life, and full of abilities and talents. We have thrown millions away, thinking that we are saving the planet and our lives by doing so! In reality, we are withering away by our selfishness and personal ambitions! This road will lead to destruction and it is an easy road to follow for it is very, very wide!
The number one hit song right now for teenagers is Kate Perry’s “Firework”. Here are some of the lyrics: “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again. Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin, like a house of cards, one blow from caving in. Do you ever feel already buried deep, six feet under scream, but no one seems to hear a thing...You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine. Just own the night, like the Fourth of July. Cause baby you’re a firework, come on show ‘em what you’re worth. Make ‘em go “Oh, oh, oh! As you shoot across the sky-y-y.”
Why is it, when we hear a song like this, our hearts fill with joy, more joy than when we read our biology or physics text books that make us feel like we are nothing! The answer is very simple: YOU will always be worth more and truer in person than on live T.V., or by a photograph, or represented on a passport, or a curriculum vitae. Textbooks will never come close to the human eye and heart in describing who we are and why we lie down at night upon the grass and gaze the stars in the Universe and adore the Creator of it all!
P.S. I am not endorsing Kate Perry at all. Only this song, in particular, has some worthy and meaningful lyrics.
