Bucket list 47 – Job 1: 20 – 22

“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped.”

“And said, naked came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

“In all this; Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”

We have been reminded very forcefully in recent days the power of the adversary. We have learned that he, Satan, is out to collect on his goal of subjecting each and every person and spirit to his proposition that we cannot do what is necessary without his help and by ridding ourselves of the gift of agency. It doesn’t matter where we look; at school, at home, at church, at recreational activities or off by ourselves in the most remote corner of the world. A pernicious pressure to conform, to be different like everyone else; comes riding in on its charger looking to take us in the wrong direction. Even the very act of saying this makes one a target for those serving Satan, who are out to destroy our very mortal and eternal life of happiness.

Nothing has changed since Job. Nothing will. Job’s challenge was to live through the good times, understand the devastation and loss of the bad times and never, never place blame and anger on the Lord or others. This life provides each of us with challenges and opportunities. Some get sick and die way before normal life expectations. Others have terrible spouses, children, jobs, friends, tempers, and relationships. Others seem to live a charmed life and go on and on in somewhat of a blissful, experience regardless of their virtues, their actions, or their desires. Some work diligently to live according to the word of God and never reach adulthood. One young man had everything going for him until he contracted MS which degraded his body and heart to the point his life was cut short at 15 or 16 years old. Another, because he did some things that were under the category of “unwise” broke his neck in his early twenties and lived as a quadriplegic to almost eighty years old, making the very best of every moment, teaching, raising a family, running a business, and raising the spiritual heights of all those around him.

Not fair! Unjust God! No God would ever do this! Not at all!!

Take an infinitely long string, run it out forever on both sides of you; then, take a microdot and place it on the string in front of you. The dot represents how long compared to infinity we are on the earth. The earth clock and the eternal, or God’s clock are totally different. We, as mortals, measure our lives in seconds, minutes and days; while God’s clock looks at the total of eternity, merely using our  mortal clock as a means of providing us bodies for our spirits; thus, allowing for eternal progression. It would be boring as watching grass grow to sit, flapping our wings and playing harps for eternity; but it will be a glorious eternity for us as we learn and grow and flourish in a state of eternal life and exaltation.

So, the real questions is what do we, individually, do with our few seconds on earth. It is really up to us. It is my personal belief that our job is to provide love and service to our families, to our friends, to our enemies, to those next door, across the state, and around the world. I believe that the first and great commandment about loving God with all our heart, mind, might, and strength, and like unto it loving others as ourselves is one of the best pieces of advice we can adopt. It will bless our lives. It will make us happy.

God bless us as we love God, love one another, and learn to love and appreciate ourselves and the opportunities God has provided.

Duane Jacobs, Grandfather, father, brother, cousin, uncle, and friend