I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. 2 Tm. 4:7
This quote from the bible is oft quoted at a person’s burial, especially of a person much advanced in age, to signify the successful mission of the person’s life. The three parts to the statement have a very significant interpretation in the context of everyone’s life. Together, they combine to reiterate succinctly mans journey from cradle to grave.
In the first part, we are made aware that life is never easy. It is a struggle and an uphill journey often interspersed with varying degrees of troubles, trials and tribulations. Yet, it is human nature to meet these challenges square on and using all the resources at ones command, to take on the challenges and vanquish it. There is both pain and pleasure in this battle for there are times when we feel defeated. It is at these low ebbs in life, that we search our inner resources like self belief, positive attitude and prayer in order to regroup our energies and renew the fight and experience the pleasures of victory. When we have never given up, when our confidence is high and we are prepared to take on a bloody nose till we attain our victory, we know we have give it our best shot. It is therefore very significant that at the funeral we share the pride of knowing a person who has fought the good fight to the best of his/ her abilities.
When we die, it is not the end of LIFE but the end of our earthly LIFE. At birth we were ordained to run a certain course, a certain distance a certain life span. We are all blessed with enough resources to go the full distance and we compete all alone. Each of us is given a different yardstick to measure our success when running this course. The length of the race is insignificant, the pace is inconsequential it is only the earnestness and intensity with which we have lead our life that counts. The quality of our life, the number of people whose lives we influenced, the kind of service we rendered to our family, friends and neighbors, the legacy we leave behind are all milestones on the course of our life. It is no wonder that when we leave our bodily life behind and death embraces us in its arms, we can whisper into the ears of death that ‘I have finished the course’.
The last part is the most important part of the whole sentence, for nestled in those 5 words ‘I have kept the faith’ is the true meaning and measure of LIFE. We didn’t choose our LIFE, we were given it as a blessing. This blessing implied that all those who got the boon of life would believe in its creator and would strive hard to repay the ‘faith’ put in us by the creator. By believing in the goodness of human kind, by leveraging your strengths of intelligence, hard work, confidence, creativity and positive thinking, and by building bridges of healthy relationships, trust and respect man has repaid the faith reposed when the creator breathed LIFE into him. In essence, LIFE is Living In Faith Everyday!
Remember: “Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.”
Try these:
- List out the three major challenges in your life that you faced and outline how you overcame these challenges. Also jot down the names of those people who significantly contributed in helping you overcome your problems.
- Make a list of people whose company you enjoy the most. Make another list of people who you love the most. What is common between the people in both lists? Are there people who are on one list and not on the other? Ask why does this happen? Do you love people only because they are family? Is it possible to love people without being able to enjoy their company? IS there something common amongst the people in the list of those whose company you enjoy the most?
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