Puddleglum's Reply

Midlife crisis; summer days with lots of time to think and ponder what life is; frustration at 29 years of being taught from God's word, yet little taught to make sense of the day to dayness of life and the meaning that should be infused into those days by a relationship with God; I know I am airing questions that others have, but might be too afraid to ask out loud. Christians act as though they have figured life out so clearly, but it seems to me the sense of understanding they have is like the guys in the movie who are on a mission. yeah, they clearly know what to do and what they are about. But they don't eat, sleep, work, have kids, get bored, get sick, or do anything that all the rest of us deal with every week, day, year and month of our lives. Think about it, movie heroes don't do those things, or at least they don't show them being done, although you know they are doing some of them. That makes them unreal and unfit for giving direction to us about life. There is a sense in which our life is NOT a mission like the movie heroes. We do have day to day demands that put life in a different realm. And so anyone who says that life should be lived like that is missing something: we cannot all live that way. Because we need meaning infused into those things that regular life is. So in the coming days I think I want to explore this issue in some depth.
I will quote one verse that gets us started: "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3.
Meaning is empty without knowing our creator. He wants this for us. He is the infinite wise loving creator of all life and all time and space, so if meaning is to be found it must come from Him: finite things only have meaning in reference to an infinite reference point. But that seems to me only the place to start; we must step carefully here because so many will claim this that and the other thing as the meaning that God wants to infuse after we have come to know him. Sometimes that involves all the religious stuff we do: if you just do these things then life will be perfect (or meaningful, or right, or what it should be). Really??
Knowing God is eternal life. And this comes through Jesus. It doesn't say doing things for God, or being nice , or doing anything: knowing this person called God IS eternal life. Jesus also said one time that He is the light of the world, and whoever follows Him would never walk in darkness. He is the one who sheds light on all else so we can see and understand this life. So Jesus, show me more of the meaning in day to day living.