Live is Worth Living      

 A few years ago I belonged to a church that established what they called, “A WALK OF FAITH.” Beginning at the entrance it meandered through the trees and ended at a beautiful garden. Every yard of the walk contained a granite slab in honor or in memory of someone.

 I purchased one and in honor of the Abersold tribe I had the slab engraved with the words, LIFE IS WORTH LIVING. I believed it then and I believe it now.

 Why? For several reasons. My view is that life, as unpredictable and terrible as it often is, as one writer has said, “None the less is too gloriously rich, exciting, fascinating and forever promising for any ordinary hand to describe what makes it so.”

 Think of it and feel it. The grandeur of life. Life is priceless. Anyone who has been on a safari in Africa can bear witness that ALL animals fight desperately for life. From the smallest to the biggest. They fight, they struggle to exist.

 The great Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoevsky, has a character exclaim, “If I were condemned to live on a rock, chained to a rock in the lashing sea, and all around me were ice and gales and storm, I would still want to live. Oh God, just to live, live, live.”

 Many a writer, in the throes of great inspiration have attempted to express the wonder of this world. But words fall short, they can only be felt. As one writer says, “The moments themselves are terribly wonderful.” An adjunct to words are pictures.

 I am an inveterate picture taker. These words in contrast to a photographer. In spite of hasty snapping and the use of a cheap camera, my ratio of beautiful scenes and dramatic photos is about one in two or 50 percent good ones.

 I even have a published book of “black and whites,” following the inspiration of Ansel Adams. My pictures all reflect an eclectic attitude. My refusal to use a digital camera or of adjustable lenses, limits my style.

 I make no pretense at being a professional. I am an amateur. The word “amateur” comes from the Latin word meaning “for the love of the thing.”  I take pictures for my own pleasure and for the mere joy I find in the endeavor.

 A few months ago I started a new cycle of pictures. I began taking pictures of those people I considered friends and those with whom I exercised. Also places Stella and I visited like: Grand Canyon, Laughlin, Mesquite, La Brea Tar pits, etc. I now have twenty small albums of photos. I peruse them frequently.

 Now, back to the wonder of our world and the grandeur of life. The writer of Psalm 19:1 was fascinated by the wonder of the universe when he said, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament (earth) reveals His handiwork.”

 Astronomers and NASA have revealed (by way of Hubble) the magnificence of our universe. The expanse of it staggers the imagination. I’ve seen enough of this earth to make me appreciative of what God has made. The Grand Canyon, the Barranca de Cobre, the Iguassu Falls, the Columbian Gorge, the expanse of the Pacific, the blue of the Caribbean, the snow covered Alps, their parallels in New Zealand, the beaches of Cancun, the migrations in Africa, the Sahara deserts, to name but a few.

 What about an unparallel sunset or sunrise? Thunderous clouds and flashing lightening; the screech of eagles and condors; the thundering tromp of a herd of elephants; the latent power of a snoozing pride of lions; the lumbering of silver back gorillas.

  One writer speaks eloquently of the “terrible wonderful moments:” a summer afternoon, soaring music, a delicious hamburger, first love, first intimacy, holding your first baby, waiting for your bride at the altar, a cold drink when you’re thirsty. I pause to quote, “The whole—what makes life so wonderful—doesn’t lend itself to words.”

 But, life itself is wonderful. Be it long or short, to experience it makes it worthwhile.

 Carlyle Marney tells of a girl who was born without arms or legs. She was cared for by her family and grew up to be a radiantly happy person. A man visiting her house one day asked her, “Don’t you ever wish that you had never been born? When you compare the life you have with that of other people, how can you believe in God? She replied in these words, “I guess I would not have missed the chance to be alive for anything in the world. I know that what I do seems very little compared to other people, but when compared to not having lived at all, to never have seen, tasted, smelled, heard, known the delights of reading and thinking, I am overwhelmingly grateful to God for the opportunity to live that has been mine.”

Amen. Selah. So be it.

 

WORDS TO THINK ABOUT

G. W. Abersold Ph.D.