Noudi
Khrietuonyü Noudi
It is said that there is a child in all of us. I do not know how people will perceive this statement. But I do believe that there is a certain childishness in everybody. It may be in the way we think, the way we behave or in any other way but there are certain areas in which we never grow up despite our advancement in age and years. Maybe this is the reason why we often see even grandparents behaving like small children. Our physical existence on this planet is way too short and there are always new things to explore everyday. And in a sense, the world is slowly closing in on all of us.
Let me mention my own case here. From being a toddler, a kid and then a teenager to being an adult and then becoming a husband and then a parent, I have come a long way and in this journey I believe I have grown as a person and have become a more matured person. As a result, my thinking has changed, my approach to life has changed, my perspective and my focus have changed and most of all I have come to realize and accept the fundamental truth of the gospel which I took for granted for many years.
But even though I have come a long way and changed in many ways, there is still a certain part in me that has not changed at all. I do not know how I am supposed to describe and explain this. Many of the thoughts and meditations which I dwelt upon when I was still a kid still remain inside me even today. I still have a soft corner and an interest in many of the people whom I grew up admiring and idolizing. I still enjoy listening to the songs which I loved to listen when I was growing up. Likewise, I also still like to watch the movies which I enjoyed watching in the past. Of course I don’t go about searching for these films anymore but whenever these movies are shown in the television I never miss them because it brings back many fond memories from the past. In the same way I also still like to read the books which I enjoyed reading while I was growing up. It does not matter to me that I had read these books multiple times and that I know everything and every detail. But every time I read these books afresh I feel like I am learning or knowing something new from them even though the books are not at all new to me. Today I am a happily married man with two lovely children. But even now I love to read and watch love stories. Love stories still stir up adrenaline in my blood.
All these come to demonstrate the fact that there is something in me which has not changed at all and which probably will not change and that is the fact that I am still me in spite of all the stages of life which I have crossed and all the changes which have happened around me. This tells me that our spirit probably never ages. Our physical bodies will age and our bodies which once had soft, smooth and beautiful skins will become rough and hard as we grow and ultimately become wrinkled and unattractive as we age and advance in years. And others will be able to identify our age and advancement in years just by looking at our physical appearance. But I believe that the spirit inside us never changes and others will not be able to identify the age of our spirit by looking at our physical appearance.
So my assumption is that our spirit never ages. And the normal lifespan of a person being only around 70-80 years, one may argue that how can the spirit inside us grow or mature in such a short span of time. Yes, when we remember that humans have inhabited this planet for thousands and thousands of years, what can a mere 70 – 80 years do to bring about change in our spirit?
So, in a way, we may say that our spirit never ages or that 70-80 years is just too short to bring about changes in our spirit. So one may tend to argue that it is not fair on the part of the creator to expect us human beings whose normal lifespan is just about 70-80 years or even shorter to bring about a change in our spirit. This may be a logical argument because no matter how long a person lives, his lifespan is not even a dot in the flow of history.
But when we look at it from another perspective, I feel that the normal lifespan of a human being is more than enough for him to realize the ultimate truth and bring about a change in his spirit. God has divided time into years, then to months, then to weeks and then to days. Moreover, God also designed for four seasons in a year for us to think, feel and learn under varying experiences. And we human beings are thinking and meditating beings created in the image of God and except during the time when we are asleep or unconscious, we are always in the process of thinking and meditating. And if we have been created in the image of God, that means we can think and meditate like God and that means if a person lives for 70 – 80 years, he has been given 70-80 years to think and meditate like god himself. And so, from this perspective I feel that even a mere 30 - 40 years lifespan is more than enough for a human to realize the truth of God and bring about a change in his spirit provided he does not waste away those years in thoughtless idling. I guess this is the reason why God limited the lifespan of man to just under 100 years.
Besides the division of our lifespan into years, months, weeks and days, a person has to go through different phases in life. First he is born as a baby, then he grows up as a toddler, a child and then becomes a teenager and then ultimately an adult. Thereafter he marries and settles down and starts his own family. All these different phases of life teach him valuable lessons and have the potential to take him closer to the ultimate truth. Yes, the thoughts and the ideas that bombard a man’s mind throughout the different phases of life are more than enough to bring about changes in his spirit.
Now, we say that we can get an idea of a person’s age by looking at his physical appearance. But if our spirit never ages, is there a way through which we can know whether a person has grown spiritually? I believe yes. We can know this from the words that come out of his mouth, from the way he treats others, from the way he carries himself around in private and public, from his attitude and from the way he lives his life. So, from this perspective, I believe our lifespan is long enough for us to show god and others that our spirits have also grown and matured.
We have talked long enough about the brevity of life and it is indeed very brief and short. But still then this life is a gift from God and it is our responsibility to live it to the fullest and give glory to God from whom all good things came in the first place. Not to speak of years or months, even a single day is precious. Every day is unique, special and irreplaceable. And therefore there may be a child in all of us and at times we may behave like children in certain ways. But I believe there is nothing to be ashamed about that because no matter how old a person is, he will always be a child in the eyes of God who is the alpha and the omega and who is from everlasting to everlasting.
But since God has imbibed His spirit in us when He created us in His image, He expects us to realize the truth behind our creation and existence so that one day we may live with Him forever as His children. And therefore there is a child in all of us and there will always be a child in us because we were created out of nothing to grow and experience and realize the glory, the majesty and the truth of God. And for that, a mere 70 - 80 years on this planet is simply not enough…
