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Taking life seriously

"Whether I do something really funny or really stupid, it is okay with me..I think that is what life is about. You can't take life itself too seriously...At the end of the day, nobody really cares. You're going to be forgotten anyway. The issues and problems that you think are like mountains that you have to deal with now, after time goes by, nobody cares...Might as well have a good time with it."
Wesley Snipes  in a recent interview after the release of Sylvester Stallone's 'The Expendables 3'. The  'Demolition Man' star is  now back on on the big screen for the first time since his release from prison after doing time for three years after failing to file income tax returns. He began his jail term in December 2010.

Snipes is one of my favourite actors. He definitely has a point that we can take ourselves too seriously sometimes when really in practice there's very little control that we have over things that happens to us. A person that worries is a person who believes too much that they have control over life. 

He is also very logical in his statement. Snipes is correct that if "no body cares" and "we would be forgotten anyway" then our actions have little consequence. You may as well have "a good time with it". In other words we should do as we please!  The big assumption there is the word "if". It all depends on that!

Unfortunately or fortunately, someone does care! After we have lived our lives we find a God at the end of the line. As a result our actions have consequences.  Whilst we should not take life too seriously, because we control nothing, we should take the Creator of life seriously. Taking God seriously helps us strike the right balance. That is why Ecclesiastes ends with the words:
Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil [Ecclesiastes 12: 12-14]
Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2013

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