The World

We have a work to do but it is not leaving a legacy for others, nor is it to produce some great works for future generations to admire, such as a great monument whether it be intellectual or set in concrete. Why is this you ask? It is because on the moment of death all the ‘earth’ will vanish from your new reality. There is a saying that you ‘can’t take it with you’ and therefore all your labours will be to little avail. What you actually have left is simply ‘you’. This was after all the real gift – your spirit, and you will be judged by what you did with it. So, it is a time to build up the spirit using those most precious of tools, namely humility and forgiveness.

One constant obstacle is what to do about those people in the world that offend you or cause you to persistently stumble, those people who are a constant ‘thorn in the flesh’. These apparent ‘reprobates’ with their incessant drunkenness, foul-mouthed outbursts, mindless gossip or general self-centredness, tempt you into judging them, cursing their existence or avenging some of their ‘numerous’ misdemeanours. Perhaps the answer is not what to do with ‘them’ but about your own feelings. They indeed ‘may be here to try us’, so you will have to ask why did God allow this? The truth is while these things annoy or cause us to become enraged, they cannot harm us or certainly not our spirit; a recognition of our immunity comes to the fore. Maybe it is this silence that drowns out the internal chatter and self-righteous indignation; it is a time to reflect and lay all of this at God’s feet and seek wisdom, both in terms of understanding and forgiveness.