The Grass Withers

The Grass withers

“A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” 
“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 
The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” 
          Isaiah 40:6-8.

The other day I was thinking about my mother she died young of cancer in her fifties in the early eighties.
My grandmother, her mother lived until her late nineties. Out living my mother by some twenty almost thirty years.
When I think of them I realize their lives were but a mist in time.
They were ordinary people. They didn’t accomplish great things but they had a good full life with family and friends around them. And that is all most people can expect.
Throughout the years I’ve read about and heard of talented musicians in particular that have died by their own hand or of drug overdoses. For all their success they found it seems little meaning in life.
William Wordsworth wrote,

“We poets in our youth begin in gladness;

but therefore came in the end to despondency and madness.’

Suicide rates are on the rise. As someone who knows a great deal of mentally ill people I understand that mental illness is a very real illness that can lead to death at one’s own hand.
At the same time I know people in all strata of life, from the rich to the poor. From the famous to the unknown who simply find no meaning in life. And take their own life.
The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote,
“I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”
                  Ecclesiastes 1:14.
How sad to have such an outlook on life. Is it any wonder that people commit suicide?
As someone who lives with Bipolar Affective Disorder I understand what it is like to go through deep depression and despair.
But the one thing that has always kept me going is the fact that I truly believe there is a God that loves me.
I believe the words of Ecclesiastes when it says,
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole  duty  of man. 
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” 
                       Ecclesiastes 12:13,14.
Without God in my life my life would be meaningless. I know that no matter how deep the valley or how high the mountain top, my God is with me. That there is always hope.
Sadly all too many people in this world do not have hope. They to paraphrase Wordsworth in their youth begin in gladness but their life ends in despondency and madness.
This should not be so because the voice of Jesus echos through the centuries saying,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Matthew 11:28,29.
Please think about it?