A lifetime is but a breath on the clock of eternity,

And though we cannot determine how we will die we can determine how we will live.

Our brief time on the stage of human history must be a performance for the ages,

And to experience love, happiness, and eternal security is the best of fortune.

While we contest constantly on the battlefield of life,

Let us not forget that unto whomsoever much has been given of him shall be much required.

If we sow good deeds we will reap the bountiful harvest of unfailing love,

For life is love and if we miss love we miss life.

Though life can only be understood backward, it must be lived forward,

For the future is where we will spend the rest of our life, and all of eternity.

Our desires for tomorrow must not prevent us from living fully in the present,

For the greatest thief is the one who cheats himself of life's great opportunities.

We should strive to transcend ourselves and become what we have always been potentially,

And to acquire knowledge and wisdom because we cannot impart what we do not possess.

Knowledge should know no bounds and should be sought as earnestly as love,

For what the mind of man can conceive it can achieve with preparation and perseverance.

Every mind is a fire to be lighted rather than a vessel to be filled,

And there is not enough darkness in all the universe to snuff out the light of a single candle.

The unreserved giving of self is the greatest gift we can give to others and to God,

For we are but a mirror, and what comes back to us is what we sent on the wings of the wind.

The greatest institution established by God is the home,

And one of life's great imperatives is to establish and nurture a strong family.

We are keepers of the future for our children are our investment in the future,

And the torch is passed when we teach love, faith, discipline, independence, and how to work.

If we train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it.

In doing so we are assured we are leaving the world better than we found it.

We as parents should be diligent in bequeathing to our children both roots and wings,

For children cannot grow tall and strong if they live forever in our shadows.

God is the light of the world and we are only the lighthouses through which he shines.

Moreover, we are in God's likeness for we are triune in body, mind, and spirit.

The great I AM calls each of us to join him in accomplishing his work on earth,

And he desires that we know him in the deepest recesses of our being.

Throughout life we must not forget that God is the vine while we are the branches.

And as the gardener he prunes that which bears no fruit.

Good works throughout our life should be viewed as the fruit,

Not the root of a God-centered life.

Tragedies in life are a reality but they should not define our life,

For great joys are often the fruit of great sorrows.

We are to rejoice in our sufferings for from such comes character and strength,

And despair over what might be should not be permitted to rob us of the joys of what is.

The dance of the seasons yields grudgingly to the approaching twilight of old age,

As we move inexorably toward the consummation of life and become shadows from the past.

We know we have settled life's greatest question when we are not afraid to die,

And our reward for the epic struggles of life is the peace that accompanies death.

Those who refuse to speak of death have not yet learned the full reality of life,

For we are old enough to die when we are born.

And all we possess is surrendered at the gate of death and goes with the wind,

As our spirit takes flight and we ascend to our transcendent creator.

Though the death angel is the great leveler of mankind,

We must be ever conscious that death gives way to life beyond the veil.

And though we cannot hide from death those who are prepared can sing joyfully

"Oh death, where is thy sting; O grave, where is thy victory."

Regardless of how much time lies behind, eternity still lies ahead,

And all of our tomorrows will be better than the best of our yesterdays.

So, as earth becomes a distant memory and heaven has begun,

We realize that life was but a scroll on which we wrote the destiny of our soul.

W. Nelson Philpot

©Copyright Aug 2001

(Used with permission)

Original composition "Reflections" by Geoff

Used with permission