Life is an amazing mixture of light and darkness, success and failure. On the world golf scene you see established stars like Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley and Stuart Appleby struggle with their golf and fall in the golf rankings this year while others like Greg Charmers has a great year after a struggle. What makes life so challenging sometimes is we don’t always know when the hard times will come upon us? What is certainly the case is that there will be times in each of our lives when darkness is real and maybe even depression sets in. These times can also be periods of growth for us as we learn to find ways to cope and even succeed in our times of darkness.

It is fair to say that success, light youth and enjoyment are linked in our passage this week. There is an argument that we reach our greatest potential in younger years. It is certainly true of work, sport and family. I love to watch the energy, the life and the optimism that we see in younger people. The older I get the more I see this as a bystander, but I still love to see life in young people and them reaching their potential. The beauty of the young female and the muscle of the young male continue to show life at its fullness. Oh how I wish I was twenty again.

With age the aches and pains of our body appear more regularly, we have less ability to move around and we know that death gets closer every day.  

However I do find it interesting that when I ask most people whether they would we like to have life over again, whether they would like to be young again, most decline and are content in their present life. I think part of the reason for this is that life can be hard, so why take the risk again and as well you learn a lot of wisdom through your mistakes and life. What a shame to lose all that!

In our modern life there is so much being done to improve the quality of life for the elderly and we are living longer. And as our reading says this week, enjoy all of life as much as possible!

I find many people like to avoid talking about getting old and dying, but it is real and we all have to face it. I think it is better to be prepared.

Our author encourages us to pursue life in all of its fullness and yet to remember one thing; there is a time of accountability with God. Human life is not an accident of nature, but we are created in the image and likeness of God. Because of that we will face our creator who will also be our judge.

In and of ourselves we may feel unprepared for that occasion, but God in his great love for the world has given us a second chance through the life of his Son Jesus Christ who has satisfied the judgment of God when he died for our sins. This gift of life is for the young and old and is what binds us together as the people of God.

Prayer Lord at whatever stage of life we are at, may we enjoy life to the full and to be prepared for those dark days when you are still present, but we get overwhelmed by life. Amen.