“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”
“So, teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” Psalm 90: 9-14
The first episode of TV series, “The Days of Our Lives,” was aired on November 8, 1965. It is still televised. The show follows the lives, loves, triumphs and tragedies of five families.
The characters could be depicted as searching for the good life. And maybe they are. But the writers have them continually immersed in dramas fraught with typical human tendencies to troublesome, even harmful behaviors. Some may be shown trying to rise above their messy lives, some striving for a good life.
So often, we get caught up in the messiness of everyday life. The endless cycle of life: stress-recover-repeat, leaves little time for anything else. The pressures of modern life seem to get in the way of living the good life.
Who doesn’t want to live a good life? Does not everyone want to have a happy, fulfilling and meaningful existence? What is the good life?
Perhaps the most famous philosophical theory of the good life comes from Aristotle. The good life is one of virtue and morality. The good life is when you strive to be kind and ethical in all your actions. For Aristotle, the good life is one in which we fulfil our potential as human beings. Happiness is essential to this process; without it, people cannot reach their full potential. Aristotle's approach is teleological. If life is to be worth living, he argues, it must surely be for the sake of something that is an end in itself—i.e., desirable for its own sake.
What would “end” that be?
Consider this as one answer to that question. Every day four brothers in Spirit and in Christ resolve to live a simple and serene life. May there be many more than just the four of us. We pray a life absent of discontent, anxiety, despair, self-seeking. A life cultivating cheerfulness, charity, prudence, fidelity and diligence to promises made and a childlike faith. We ask the Holy Spirit that we may be truly wise.
Wisdom teaches us to count our days. The Day of Pentecost soon will be here. So, it is appropriate that we pray God, by the light of the Holy Spirit, to instruct us and strengthen us to be steadfast on that journey of transformation back to God. Then the days of our lives, counting however brief or long, will be of value and full of joy; the good life.
“You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; * and so you renew the face of the earth.” Psalm 104:31
“O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in her (sic) holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.”
“So, teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” Psalm 90: 9-14
The first episode of TV series, “The Days of Our Lives,” was aired on November 8, 1965. It is still televised. The show follows the lives, loves, triumphs and tragedies of five families.
The characters could be depicted as searching for the good life. And maybe they are. But the writers have them continually immersed in dramas fraught with typical human tendencies to troublesome, even harmful behaviors. Some may be shown trying to rise above their messy lives, some striving for a good life.
So often, we get caught up in the messiness of everyday life. The endless cycle of life: stress-recover-repeat, leaves little time for anything else. The pressures of modern life seem to get in the way of living the good life.
Who doesn’t want to live a good life? Does not everyone want to have a happy, fulfilling and meaningful existence? What is the good life?
Perhaps the most famous philosophical theory of the good life comes from Aristotle. The good life is one of virtue and morality. The good life is when you strive to be kind and ethical in all your actions. For Aristotle, the good life is one in which we fulfil our potential as human beings. Happiness is essential to this process; without it, people cannot reach their full potential. Aristotle's approach is teleological. If life is to be worth living, he argues, it must surely be for the sake of something that is an end in itself—i.e., desirable for its own sake.
What would “end” that be?
Consider this as one answer to that question. Every day four brothers in Spirit and in Christ resolve to live a simple and serene life. May there be many more than just the four of us. We pray a life absent of discontent, anxiety, despair, self-seeking. A life cultivating cheerfulness, charity, prudence, fidelity and diligence to promises made and a childlike faith. We ask the Holy Spirit that we may be truly wise.
Wisdom teaches us to count our days. The Day of Pentecost soon will be here. So, it is appropriate that we pray God, by the light of the Holy Spirit, to instruct us and strengthen us to be steadfast on that journey of transformation back to God. Then the days of our lives, counting however brief or long, will be of value and full of joy; the good life.
“You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; * and so you renew the face of the earth.” Psalm 104:31
“O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in her (sic) holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.”
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