Two Views

The parable in the 12th chapter of Luke gives us two views of the same man.  The first view is the one the farmer has of himself.  After a successful harvest he says, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years: relax, eat, drink, and be merry." (Luke 12:19).  The second view is the one of God.  "You fool!  This very night your life is being demanded of you.  And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?  So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."  (Luke 12:20-21). The farmer with the abundant harvest lived as if he was going to live forever on this earth, but, of course, none of us do.   

When I came to the farm some fifteen years ago, I started seeing things that were older and which would most likely be here when I am gone.  Some of the trees around the farm have watched several generations of folks toil in the dirt.  And the dirt itself is as old as creation itself.  As I began to see, I started seeing that no matter how many years I might live, I was always going to be the short timer around here.  Life is both fragile and finite.  It has a beginning and an end.  All of this speaks not of fatalism or pessimism, but of realism.  It speaks of the reality that life depends not on what I do, but upon God.  God is the One who gives life.  He is the One who sustains life.  

Even as our first days on earth are in His hands, so will be our last ones. While the Scripture speaks of heaven being our home, we know, too, that our time here on this earth among those we love is a treasured gift.  None of us are eager to cease breathing this earth's air.  The life we live is a precious gift of grace from God.  The farmer in the parable who thought he was self made was called a fool because he failed to live grateful to the Creator for the gift of abundant land, health to enjoy it, and every other gift of grace which was being poured into his life.