Take it to Heart

But what have we learned? We've learned that people have a remarkable capacity for evil. We've also learned that people have a remarkable capacity for heroism, generosity, and compassion. We've been shocked into learning that not all values are equal, that what we believe does matter. We witnessed a massive return to church for a few weeks as people sought comfort in God, eternity, and hope.

Millennia ago King Solomon wrote, "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting. . ." (Ecclesiastes 7:2a). What a jarring pronouncement! How could tragedy possibly be better than celebration? Because there are important lessons to be learned that will not be learned in any other way: ". . . for death is the destiny of every man and the living should take this to heart" (Ecclesiastes 7:2b).

Death brings us face to face with our own mortality. We immediately become aware of how fleeting life can be. That is why a year ago so many instinctively reached out for their family to talk and to embrace. When time is short we are moved to make the most of it, to seize the moment. In Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams portrays an English teacher who tries to convey this message to a group of adolescents (who usually think they are immortal). He takes them to an old trophy case and has them look intently at the faces of classes that graduated 70 years earlier. As the camera slowly pans the photographs we can see the hopes and ambitions of youth in their faces. Williams tells his students that these young men in the photographs were just like them, but now they are pushing up daisies! He tells them to seize the day carpe diem! The first lesson is clear: take stock of your life, your priorities, and your values. Live each moment intentionally, doing those things that are most important.

If death increases our awareness of the shortness of life, it also brings into focus our longing for more. In Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon wrote that God set eternity in men's hearts. We ignore the specter of death for as long as we can, but when death comes to someone we know or it invades our consciousness on the tragic scale of September 11 we immediately set our hope on heaven. Almost everything in our society bombards us with the perspective that this world is all that there is. And our frenetic pace closes our ears to the few voices that speak of eternity in favor of the immediate gratification of the here and now. It is good "to go into a house of mourning" in order to take stock of your eternal destiny. As one man suggested, "Write your obituary now and see if it will play in heaven."