Day-by-Day. September 14th (1st)
Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought
under the sun is grievous unto me. (Eccl.2, 17)
There’s not one man on the face of the Earth that has not been tempted to repeat these words of Solomon, realizing at the same time how wrong and sinful they are. This is a true temptation. Evil spirit casts his deadly light upon every dirt and disgust that we come across in our lives, and when seeing it we experience disgust to the whole world and then ask ourselves: is it really worth living and what for? Only to join the voice the screaming society that is boiling in this abyss of sin and temptation?
As Christians we should not hate life. While realizing how imperfect it is, dull and sometimes cruel, we still must love it as the greatest gift from God and know that anyone, who desires so, can learn a lot from it. Life is a battlefield, where we fight for truth against lie and for good against evil. This is a treasure that often gets wasted by people; we must make the best of it and, when the time comes, give it back into the Hands of God, from Whom we received it in the first place. Life is a soil, which suffers a lot from storms and bad weather, but also gets nourished by rains of grace. And finally, this is a gift from God, and how can I hate this gift and condemn what God had blessed?
To be able to love life we should not be searching for what it can give us, but for what we can bring into it instead. If you want to love your life – see what good can you do to others? Can’t you really find a single soul that could benefit from your love, to whom you could bring consolation, support and lead him to God? When enlightened by the works of love, our whole life will change and bloom in the light of this love.
Someone said: “Every day try to do something to decrease the mountain of human suffering and increase the pile of human joy”. Don’t love your life for the sake of self-love, but love it for God, because this is a battlefield where you can stand up for Christ against the sin. And remember, your real life will begin only when you surrender it to the One, Who gave it to you.
(Translated by Tatiana Rozzell from “Every Day is a Gift from God. Diaries of an Orthodox Priest” (1905), author unknown)
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