Life Cycles Day By Day
Do we only see life as it cycles as it were in a circle? Yes, we can see the seasons of life: of spring, summer, fall and winter. We see how it goes from a baby being born, growing to adulthood, on into old age and this life ends in death. Those appear to be circles. The young replacing the old, and the old passing on and new being born. Life is also moving in a linear direction as well. Not all linear because while it is going forward, it is also traveling up and down as well.
Life—it seems so simple, yet it is complex at the same time. Like a complex orderly machine day by day we travel through this vast universe. I've copied part of a piece of an article called Design Demands A Designer by Kyle Butt, M.Div.
"Sir Isaac Newton was a famous mathematician and scientist who strongly believed in God. The story is told that he had an atheistic friend who did not believe in God. Sir Isaac devised a plan to try to convince his friend that God did exist and had created the Universe. One day, he went to a carpentry shop and asked the owner to make a model of our solar system.
This model was to be to scale, intricately painted, and designed to resemble, as closely as possible, the actual solar system.Several weeks later, Sir Isaac picked up the model, paid for it, and placed it in the center of a table in his house. Some time later, his atheist friend came over for a visit. When the friend arrived at Dr. Newton’s house, the model of the solar system caught his eye, and he asked Sir Isaac if he could inspect the model more closely. Of course, that was fine with Sir Isaac. As the atheist inspected the model, he stood in awe of the fine craftsmanship and beauty of the various pieces.
After some time, the atheistic friend asked Dr. Newton who had crafted this wonderful model of the solar system. Sir Isaac promptly replied that no one had made the model; it just appeared on his table by accident. Confused, the friend repeated the question, and yet Newton stubbornly clung to his answer that the model had just appeared, as it were, “out of thin air.” Finally, the friend became upset, and it was at that point that Sir Isaac explained the purpose of his answer.
If he could not convince his friend that this crude replica of the solar system had “just happened by accident,” how could the friend believe that the real solar system, with all its complexity and design, could have appeared just by time and chance? Point well taken! Design always demands a Designer. As a case in point, let us look at one beautiful example of design." http://apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=9&article=877
As we near the end of our journey we can look from the mountain top and see behind us the peaks and valleys of our past. Some good things and some not as good. I believe there's a John Denver song that has the refrain,
"Some days are diamonds, some days are stones Sometimes the hard times won't leave me alone Sometimes a cold wind blows a chill in my bones Some days are diamonds, some days are stones…"
That kind of sums up life, but most diamonds depend on us and our view.
I've recently read the meme that goes something like: "Sure there are things I'd like to change in my past, but I can't. And that's the reason the rear view mirror is so small and the windshield is so large. Don't watch out the rear view mirror, you're not going that way."
Our victories ought to give us hope and a reason for celebration. Celebrate life.
Philippians 4:18 "But I have all things, and abound: I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. 19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
