Life: A Response to God

We are called to this life so that we can share in the great love of God. But do we know that life is at the same time a response to God? Yes, it is a response whether we are aware of it or not. There are two possible responses in God’s call: it could either be a denial or an acceptance of it. Life is denied when from the moment of conception the infant in the womb is aborted. In some cases, accidents happen even before the baby gets to be born and we have no way of knowing the reason why these things happen or why does God allow it to take place. The fact that we are alive is because our parents responded for us, to give us a chance to experience life and decide on it as we grow older.

But there is another form of denial, something that involves the person’s own free will. We deny life when we take advantage of it, when we abuse it or neglect it. These acts may seem like a confirmation of life but the truth is that life is being denied little by little with what it ought to have i.e., everything that is good.

Acceptance of life means allowing ourselves to grow as persons and as children of God and letting our selves to be consumed in the love of God. Of course this is the ideal scenario. However, due to the freedom that God has given us, so good as it is, we tend to hinder ourselves from being so. Due to a misuse of freedom, we deny life of the goodness of God. We sometimes disregard the gifts that God so willingly and lovingly gives us.

Vices such as drunkenness, substance abuse, or bodily negligence are kinds of responses to life. But these are bad responses, irresponsible and totally selfish. It is a sign of pride, a sign of misconstrued idea of independence from God. We deny life of good things but we drown it with evil that leads to death.

Life is endowed with a creative spirit waiting to be expressed in songs, colors, poetry, and sculptures that reflect the beauty and brilliance of God. We can make people laugh and even cry but only to help a person grow. This creative spirit moves us to uplift the dampening soul and to stir even the deepest part of our being. However, selfish human decisions block the creative spirit to keep it from being realized. Instead, a destructive spirit overwhelms the good that life can offer making it futile. Beauty is now replaced by the ugly appearances of anger and hate. Songs become noise, sweet poetry becomes bitter words, colors become darkness, and sculptures crumble to the ground.

The physical strength that we have can move mountains and build the tallest buildings but this is the same strength that can destroy the foundation of human economy and ultimately our very existence. Should we be grateful for this strength? The answer is definitely yes. The strength that we have, no matter how limited, is one of the many good things that God has given us. It is to be used to build and not to destroy.

Our ability to learn, to remember, to calculate, and to reason are gifts that we need to separate facts from fiction, right from wrong, truth from lies. Through these abilities we find meaning and purpose in our existence, we are able to clear and focus our direction towards the good. They help us to learn and unlearn from life’s events. They give us dreams as well as the means to realize them. However, these same abilities could be the ones responsible for our failures. The dreams that we have sometimes far exceed our limitations and bring us nothing but frustrations and disappointments. Ambitions are not always as reachable as we thought they are. Our reasoning becomes justification, our memory becomes a nightmare, and make belief becomes our reality: look, the power of the mind, so life-giving yet so deadly.

Our emotion helps us to connect to others. It is our heart’s bridge to the heart of the other. We feel sad, we feel great, at times we get angry but sometimes we are mild and gentle. Our emotion reminds us that we are only human, weak and limited. Emotion has eyes, ears, and hands toward the other. It also builds not tall buildings and infrastructures but friendship and relationships with others. However, we should never forget that emotions can also be destructive and worse, its effects last. The friendship that was established for years can be ruined in just a matter day or not even.

There are two choices in life, the good and the bad. Although life expects us to always do the good, human will can always do just that or it might just dictate otherwise. The decision lies always within us. No matter how strong the influence of the outside world is to us, we must always remember that every decision is a response to life and life itself is a response to God.

We deserve to have at least a better life if not the best and we can only achieve that life when we respond to it according to the love that God has first given us. We owe it not only to ourselves but to God who always looks after our welfare and nothing less.