LIFE IS BUT A DREAM

In analyzing the children's song, "Row, row, row, your boat, gently down the stream.  Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream,"  have you ever thought about the origin of the lyrics and what the writer meant by it?

I've often wondered.  We were all born in this life and although we don't have the same life experiences, the growth of our human experiences are pretty similar.  The terrible twos, the awkward age, the teenage years, the list goes on.  But as we age and near the end of our days, we reflect back on the experiences we have been through.  We muse on the regrets, people who have hurt us, and most of the time, we think about death and what is beyond this lifetime.

We row through our life without even a mere thought of its meaning.  What is the purpose of being alive?  In our youth, we push death to the back burner because we can never imagine how it could ever happen to us.  We feel invincible.  So we keep rowing, some of us with full force and gusto to achieve fame or fortune.  Some of us don't want to row at all because we haven't found the significance of life maybe because of bad experiences we were born into or may have been through.

Regardless, we all row.  The lesson I think this song implies is that we live each of our days as if it were the last.  Make it full of purpose not for ourselves but for the life that is to come that has no ending.  This life is our practice field.  It is not more important than the next as far as achievements that cannot be transposed.  It is said you cannot bring anything with you to eternal life but you certainly can send it on ahead.  This means spreading God's word to as many people so that many more would turn back to Him.

Our job is more important because we operate via straight faith, unlike the apostles and the thousands who have met and seen Jesus.  But even they were doubted, how much more for us?  We push through though because eternal life is our goal.  So row, row, row that boat merrily down the stream that leads to the REAL and never-ending life because this life, in perspective, will be but a dream.

Until my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!