Born to die

"What a morbid sentence to place on an automobile license plate!" I murmured to myself.

My husband reluctantly slowed our van, allowing space ahead for a speeding vehicle. The other car swerved dangerously, passing us on the highway. As we inched closer, the writing on the license plate -- "Born to die" --stared back at me. Although I was stunned to see such words on the back of a car, I was forced to examine the reality of such a claim.

Christianity teaches we are born to die but promises we will rise again. However, few actually think about the reality of the claim until advancing in age. I thought about it, trying to apply the scenario to everything in life. If it's true that nothing here is lasting, I should spend far less time fussing over things of little consequence.

When someone builds a home, he wants durable materials. But regardless of how perfect those materials are, they too will eventually decay. All it takes is a fire or natural disaster to destroy the results of energy, time and workmanship.

Many desire beautiful and expensive automobiles and spend hours washing and polishing them. The first rain or dust storm passing through destroys all the hard work. The owner is disappointed so he then builds more and larger garages to hold his precious treasures, saying, "I can now keep my prize safe." But garages, too, eventually crumble. "What shall I do now? What will endure?" he asks.

I enjoy pretty, stylish clothes. But I often keep them for special occasions instead of regular use. Then I forget they're hanging in the back of my closet, often untouched and outdated. I've denied myself use or enjoyment from them. Their purpose has vanished. I wear other garments excessively, hoping they'll last forever. I'm saddened when they eventually shrink, become outdated or deteriorate. "Why can't things remain still?" I question.

Parenting is another avenue that brings heartbreak. Many times when children mature, leave home and start families of their own, the parents feel the absence of their safe and loving family unit -- that presence when children were home. "Who am I now?" I've asked. "I must find new purpose." New families and traditions keep evolving. Why does everything begin -- only to end?

Careers stop. People are forced into or choose another route in life. Someone new fills one's place and he, perhaps, takes someone else's spot. Like rivers and landscapes life's activities keep beginning, reshaping and ending -- forever seeking new channels and terrain. Searching for a purpose better served elsewhere in a different capacity.

Everything is born or created; human, animal and plant life, and even buildings or ideas take birth. But just as everything has a beginning, consequently it also must end.

I then delved into the Book of Ecclesiastes. It says "all things are vanity." So what was the point of even trying if nothing mattered? However, Ecclesiastes fixed all by ending with, "Fear God and keep his commandments. For this is man's all," meaning that man constantly seeks happiness here without finding it, but God makes sense of it all.

Jesus solved the enigma of life by telling people to have faith. Only God can understand the whys and ifs of life. Christ lifted that fear of "born to die" by promising that "God so loved the world he gave his only Son, so those who believed in him might not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16).

Yes indeed! We are born to die, but we'll live again!

~ Ellen Shuck is director of religious education at St. Mary's Cathedral Parish.