Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

A portion of Longfellow’s “Psalm of Life”, a recommended read when you don’t feel so great.

In reading these words, in finding a time of prayer, I find myself cheering on my own life.  Like so many, I have regrets and so many moments where everything I did, everything I touched was wrong.  I can be tempted to wish for death to end this cycle of failure and remorse.  But it is a lie.

“Life is real!  Life is earnest!”

My life, your life, speaks to those around us.  Even if it is only to remind them that they don’t have it so bad.  Be that reminder.  Let them see that your human spirit is not conquered by the tempests of existence.  Live a life to prove that God is alive, that He has mercy, grace, love that is enough for any person.

Let your life be a voice, shouting against the torrent of this world, declaring that we do not live to keep from dying.  We live because our lives count.  God has declared that we matter.  He has determined to move heaven and earth to win our hearts and we give them willingly, freely to Him.

We will love.  We will live.