An Exciting Time to Be Alive

It’s an exciting time to be alive. Indeed, this is a perennial statement. It could be said of any time—in present-tense context—of any time in history. It is otherwise far too easy, from a Christian viewpoint, to focus too much on these end-of-times. We know the present age to be evil, but at the same time God has given us life for the abundance of enjoyment. And that enjoyment we extrapolate into bringing heaven upon the earth, like through roles of advocacy for injustice. We can do something!

These are exciting times. It is exciting to be alive. One day very soon we will not be able to say that. It will be somebody else’s turn. Such a thought might be morbid, but it is just as much a reality.

We live in exciting times truly for the fact that we are live, today; this instant.

Are we making the comparative most from our times just now?

Without pushing ourselves to burnout, which we know is unsustainable, are we taking our opportunities at the time they are presented?

When we consider the moment we live in, just now, reading these words, imagining what it is to live our lives, just now, we may recognise the awesome reality—the gift from God—of life enough to think, to feel, to experience, to react and respond, to ponder again; to hope.

This is no insignificant topic. Indeed, that would be a graphic understatement.

There is no more significance than the idea of being alive now, especially as we consider the other reality—life in eternity.

One thing we can know with a great deal of certainty is that such a fact of being alive now—of knowing it afresh—forces us to respond in some way. Many will respond by making the most of the moment and planning more for future moments. Many others will respond by ambivalence; perhaps learned helplessness permeates. But why should we be disabled or disempowered by such a fact. Such a fact as being a live now should elicit within us praise; it should evoke some jealous movement; it should spark from within us praise or outrage.

This knowledge should create some emotional response. That brings life!

***

The significance of being alive now, no matter how down we might feel, is forever relevant. Now is our time. Now is an exciting time to be alive. As we consider the chains of the past, determining where the shackles are, we ask God to loosen them, and because we are alive now we break free the best we can.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.