Ecclesiasties 5: V15‘Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.’
A pretty obvious statement that we are all very familiar with and everyone knows that you can’t take earthly gains with you... as in ‘carry in their hands.’
Religions and cultures have seen death from their different perspectives, with ancient cultures such as the Egyptians providing for people’s journey into the afterlife. Today we believe that we are more educated and have a greater understanding of death therefore we realize that physical objects cannot pass over with us. As we can see, the above verse deals strictly with the physical body and we know that the works of our hands refers to all our earthly possessions, many of which we leave to our families or possibly friends.
We spend a great deal of time fulfilling our ambitions, aiming to improve our standing in life and increasing our wealth to provide a better future within this world.
The question is, ’how much time do we spend preparing ourselves for the next world?’
Some people are very aware of the importance pertaining to spirituality and make it a priority in their daily lives. Others do not give this a great deal of consideration with many failing to believe in the existence of God, simply living from day to day.
Whatever we believe, our quality of life is much improved once we learn to execute the basics of love and compassion in great measure to those around us. One very popular expression used constantly today is, ‘what goes around comes around.’ I think there is every reason to extend this thinking to the afterlife and again, some religions actually base their thinking in relating to re-incarnation... and who can prove that they are wrong?
Here are some questions to help us take a look at our different behaviours:
- Have you ever stopped to consider what impressions people are really forming of you?
- If you step back, how do you view yourself?
- What are you teaching your children through your words and actions?
I think it would be very scary if we could see our thoughts and deeds divided into two columns... good and bad would be ample! I know many people will chip in here and say that you cannot get to Heaven through good works, only through God’s grace; even so, quality of life is paramount! Good deeds lead to great/positive feelings which boost you up whereas bad thoughts and actions drag us down. Whatever your views, this life is more about what you give than what you have and strong emotional investment may well travel with us into the next world... somewhere beyond our greatest imaginings.
Jaz McKenzie
If you wish to write a poem or article for Its Braap~Its Life contact: itsbraap@live.co.uk
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