Heaven + Earth

The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field;

the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

- Psalm 103:15-16

The rapid decline and passing of NDP leader Jack Layton today has me thinking of this verse and others like it. How a man at the height of his political career, having achieved more than any NDP leader in history, can have it all ripped away suddenly, without prejudice or passion, by the common curse of mankind - death. Just a few short months ago, he looked like an unstoppable force. Now he is gone.

My Dad had prostate cancer just a short while ago. It seemed like a pretty innocuous, business-as-usual type of cancer. One quick operation and it was gone. Not much worse than tonsillitis or appendicitis, really. To think that it could’ve had this type of effect on him, or still may, is a sobering and scary thought. Jack Layton was given a clean bill of health after his prostate treatment. So was my Dad. Some day the odds are good that I’ll probably be diagnosed with prostate cancer myself. Will I beat it? Will it beat me?

Regardless of what you thought of the man or his politics, it’s sad to see a man taken in the prime of his life. He’ll never have the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of this great political victory, everything that he’d been working towards for decades. Does a thought like this change how you’ll spend your own time and talent today, tomorrow, forever? Should it?

Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

-Matthew 6:19-21