LIFE AT 10

LIFE AT 10

Thursday, February 20, 2020



John 14:27 I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It isn't like the peace that this world can give. So don't be worried or afraid.



  I am blessed in that my grandson and greatgrandchildren live locally. I very much enjoy them. Observing them however has at times set my mind to recall, and wondering if they’re having the same age-related thoughts I did.

  My family nickname was Sunny. It was not a front. I was a happy boy interested in many things. But beneath the surface at about age 10 was a recurring weighty thought and fear of death. The thought being the question of why was I here? The fear of death involved incurring imagery at times day and night. One nightmare was my awakening in a buried coffin in total darkness and silence. Possibly fed by Saturday horror movies?

  I suppose my playmates had the same issues, but, like a lot of things back there then, they weren’t discussed. We did however meet the foe with bravado. One way was loudly singing a darkly humorous song about a Baltimore area mortician that violated the then cultural social mores. He advertised!

  For the life of me I cannot remember but a few of the multitude of verses of that song. I do recall “The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out. They play pinochle on your snout!” Sometimes sung when sneaking into a dark cemetery. (If a grave was left open awaiting the burial the news spread like wildfire and boys gathered from numerous neighborhoods by the pit.)

  It was not until after I trusted Christ as Redeemer at age 27, and then began finding answers in God’s Word that I came to peace on these matters. Jesus’s provided serenity displaced bravado! First of all through the Genesis creation account, then Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, then Philippians 3:9-10, and through Titus 2:14; through the overall themes of Scripture.

  GotQuestions.org sums up the answer, stating “Our purpose in life, as God originally created man, is 1) glorify God and enjoy fellowship with Him, 2) have good relationships with others, 3) work, and 4) have dominion over the earth. But with man’s fall into sin, fellowship with God is broken, relationships with others are strained, work seems to always be frustrating, and man struggles to maintain any semblance of dominion over nature. Only by restoring fellowship with God, through faith in Jesus Christ, can purpose in life be rediscovered.
  The purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We glorify God by fearing and obeying Him, keeping our eyes on our future home in heaven, and knowing Him intimately. We enjoy God by following His purpose for our lives, which enables us to experience true and lasting joy—the abundant life that He desires for us”

  At what age did you discover our real reason for existence?

EBB4