Until You Die, Live

 

 

The most we can do before we die

Is live,

The least we can do while we live

Is to squander what God gives.

 

Optimally, He gives us life

It’s given for His good pleasure

And when we refuse to live for Him,

We lose its hidden treasure.

 

As an explorer digs for treasure

We must explore what God has given,

There is treasure enough to explore

Hence, stay clear of the forbidden.

 

The talk of death and dying-

Is an obsession more or less

It is robbing us of the opportunity

To enjoy whatever life is left.

  

Daily we die before we reach

Death’s inevitable destination,

Making a waste of the treasure of life

Merely contemplating life’s termination.

 

Until you die, live!

That is the whole purpose of life,

Let your existence be of value

Be a hero amidst this strife!

 

To what purpose is our death

When we have never even lived?

Soon, we are forgotten

Have wasted what God did give.

 

To die and not live

Is like having never been born,

Such an unenviable achievement

To me seems rather forlorn.

 

Not far removed from some

Merely awaiting Christ’s return

Rather than the passion for souls

That in our predecessors burned.

 

It is an expressly horrible thing

To die before we live

And allow the window of opportunity

To slip through us like a sieve.

 

 

Heavenly Father, this I pray,

Help me to appreciate all Your gifts,

Not least of all, this earthly life

Which is our greatest natural gift.

 

To use it as an investment

As an instrument from your hand,

To live for you until I die

In accordance with your plan.

 

Help me until I die to live

Knowing that death is just a sleep

And in my sojourn here below

Let it be a heavenly peep.

 

To occupy until you come

Is what you have ordered for us

So, before we die so let us live

That we may honour Jesus.

 

Amen

 

Stewart Russell © April 2020

 

Imagination

 

 

Sometimes I find myself wishing

That I could talk to the animals

To be able to find out from them

If they are like regular people.

 

Sometimes my mind goes wild

And I have a vivid imagination

When I wonder about other creatures

And the measure of their limitation.

 

In what ways are they like man?

And in what ways are they different?

Do they think like man thinks?

Or, do they have a different bent?

 

What are their thought processes?

Do they also have a mind?

And concerning the matter of imagination

Are they thus inclined?

 

 

I would find it difficult to accept

That animals have an imagination,

This would make them very human-like

And beyond my wildest expectation.

 

Imagination, as it occurs to me,

Is one of God’s many gifts to man

And meant to focus and facilitate our thinking

In relation to God’s remarkable plan.

 

Imagine a world that just happened

As some would want us to believe,

That imagination as far as I am concerned

Must be dead set to deceive.

 

 

Imagination can run away with us

And lead us down a wrong path

Or, like many of the playwrights and authors

Cause us to have a huge laugh.

 

All the master pieces in the arts

Were the result of somebody’s imagination

And some master mind in provocative thought

Was responsible for every innovation.

 

The wheel, the gear, the engine,

The buggy, the bus, the train,

Bungalows, skyscrapers and condos,

Ocean going vessels and passenger planes.

 

 

From a vast world to a global village

Via the telephone, cable and internet,

From bartering to cash and automatic tellers

To super lotto winners on a single bet.

 

From theatrical dramas to a movie stage

From vinyl to tape to iTunes,

Audio and video cellphone calls

And more recently video conferencing on Zoom.

 

 

Artificial intelligence and virtual meetings

Buying and selling on the internet,

Visa Card, Master Card and Debit Card

Of course, not to mention, deficits and debts.

 

All of these innovations began in the mind,

Somebody simply thought “What If”

And with this came an assemblage of thought

The origin? Imagination, if you catch my drift.

 

Imagination sees what the end could be

From the very origin of the thought,

Every idea, every process, every innovation,

Look around and see what imagination brought.

 

Some good, some bad, some indifferent,

Some an improvement and some a waste,

Some a good fit, some a no fit

And some were absolutely out of place.

 

Imagine the guns and tanks and scuds,

The nuclear and chemical warheads,

And imagine the carnage that can be had,

I wonder who would count the dead.

 

 

Animals come with defense mechanisms

Man’s imagination invented his own,

And when it comes to killing without reason

That is strictly in the human zone.

 

My imagination is running out

But I trust you have gotten my drift,

Humans have imagination, the animals do not

But with humans there is a greater rift.

 

Far more confusion among humans

Than there is among the animals,

I wish that we could use our imagination

To create more unity among all peoples.

 

Stewart Russell © February 3, 2021