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PREPARING FOR FINALS
When we of mature years begin reminiscing about the past or
recollecting events of days gone by, our young family members and friends
are likely to groan. "Here we go again," they may be thinking
– or saying out loud! – "Those old stories we’ve heard before
are comin’ back!"
However, social workers and counselors call such remembering "Life
Review" and consider it a very useful type of behavior for senior
citizens. Looking back over one’s life and recalling the successes and
failures helps a persons come to a sense of peace about how well they have
lived. Reviewing activities of one’s youth and middle age can give a
feeling of personal growth and achievement. Recollecting important
relationships may give the satisfaction that, "Yes, my life has
mattered for something."
Lately, I’ve found myself doing that! Maybe it has something to do
with my recent birthday. I turned "three score and ten" (70
years) which the psalmist (Psalm 90:10) says is the beginning of the end
of our days. However, I choose to call this activity not "Life
Review" but "Preparing for Finals."
The Bible includes many vague references to a "final
judgment" or "judgment day" which will occur at the end of
time. But it doesn’t tell us whether it will be at the end of time for
everybody or for each of us at the time our life comes to an end.
Popular folklore has filled in the gaps left by the Good Book,
providing specific details about that coming judgment. The joys of heaven
are described in terms of "pearly gates," "golden
streets," and fond reunions with departed loved ones. An Italian
painter, of an earlier century by the name of Brunelleschi, focused upon
the other alternative. He created a masterpiece entitled "Last
Judgment." In that horrifying view, he pictures a long line of humans
waiting to appear before the Almighty Judge. From before that throne of
judgment, a few are guided upward to a place of peace and joy. The
majority of those who appear before the throne, however, are thrown down
through a trapdoor into fiery depths where Satan busily stokes blazing
furnaces. Looks of anguish distort the faces of those unfortunates as they
are shoveled into the white-hot furnaces!
Now I don’t know what the "Last Judgment" will be like, but
I don’t doubt that there will be one. So, it doesn’t hurt to get
ready, to "Prepare for Finals" so to speak. Recently, therefore,
in the quiet of a solitary moment, I took a look backwards at my life. The
first thing I saw shocked me.
"Why did I waste so much time talking and so little time
listening?" I wondered. "Why was I so often speaking out of my
own shallow well of wisdom when I could have been deepening it from the
wisdom-wells of others? God gave us two ears and only one mouth for a
reason. We are created to listen twice as much as we talk! Oh, woe is me,
for I have not."
But there is still time for change, I was reminded in the silence.
Listening is a fine art, developed and improved through practice. You can
start today! Creator of Both Ears and Mouth, change me from a
chatterbox of trivia into a container for truth You share thru others.
Now, dear Reader, don’t get me wrong. I’m not prepared yet for that
final judgment, but at least it won’t be a complete surprise. I hope I
have at least ten more years to continue preparing, changing one bad habit
at a time!
4/28/10 - mshr |