Have you ever thought life isn't worth living? I wonder that, too.
There are days when my life seems full of frustrations, thwarted hopes and anguish that I just cannot see the point. Why do I have to go through such a wringer washer of sorrows and pains?
Even when things go well and I'm doing things I enjoy, I'm not always feeling fully satisfied. Isn't there more to life? Am I just spending time in trivial pursuits? Is it really worth it?
On those days, I feel an affinity for the sage who declared thousands of years ago, "So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind" (Ecclesiastes 2:17).
This guy had tried everything: he had grown gardens, built palaces, amassed great riches, drank the choicest wines, enjoyed the finest music, and he still felt that life was empty.
Even though he might have found temporary solace in the hustle and bustle of life, ultimate fulfillment or satisfaction eluded him.
That's just the way I feel sometimes. When I'm not drowning myself under a downpour of activities, the question looms large at the forefront of my mind: What is the purpose of it all?
Is life only a flicker of light, sandwiched between the two great darknesses of "before birth" and "after death"? A biological fluke, born of favourable conditions created by the Big Bang?
When I look around me and observe the sheer perfection of a tiny insect or the majesty of a moonlit landscape, I cannot believe our world is a random grouping of molecules, left to evolve in a cosmos without design.
The very fact that I can appreciate the beauty of nature and experience a longing to make sense of the universe strongly speak to me of the existence of a Creator.
And it's only in relation to this Creator that I can define what the meaning and purpose of my life is.
Who is he? Why did he create the world? Why did he create me? It may seem presumptuous to try to answer these questions. How can I aspire to know anything about God?
The good news is that God wants to make himself known to me. He's not some cruel deity who created me to watch me suffer, or some indifferent god who's just letting the universe unwind to see what will happen.
He's an all-loving God who wants me to know him personally.
It's up to me to accept his friendship and become close with him. The problem, of course, is that I'm not always willing to look beyond my desires for immediate gratification.
Let's face it. I don't want to suffer. I don't want to bother with anguish and pain. Sometimes, I don't want to be a good person. I just want to be bad and selfish.
Although I claim I want my life to be meaningful, more often than not, I'm satisfied if it's merely pleasurable. I want my way. Not God's.
Yet, God's way is plain. "I am the way, the truth and the life," says Jesus, God's Son (John 14:6).
Anyone who's willing to believe in Jesus and follow him enters into a relationship with God himself. "The words I have spoken to you," says Jesus, "they are spirit and they are life" (John 6:63).
When I read these words, I hear the promise of a richer life, a life filled with meaning and purpose.
A life without an eternal perspective is indeed meaningless. It is a "chasing after the wind."
But a life lived with an eternal perspective in the context of a relationship with God takes on a different substance altogether.
On the days when I feel all is pointless, I need to switch my perspective. I need to put on God's glasses to see my life from a broader angle.
For it's only when I connect with the Creator of the universe that my life has any meaning at all.
Louise Rousseau is a writer and a student of life. She lives with her family in Aldergrove, B.C. Copyright 1997 iamnext.com May not be used without permission.
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