Contemplate this

We are uneasy at the thought of the ending of life. It should be no surprise to many of you that this has been on my mind due to my father's serious illness. Fortunately, he is recovering. It was the Solon of Athens who left this precept to future ages: "Keep thine eye fixed upon the end of life." According to Epictetus the things which "disturbed our happiness in this world and our desires, our griefs, and our fears is mortality." The person who considers how soon he must close his life, will find nothing of more importance than to close it well. My father's main concern is finishing well and doing what he believes God wants him to finish. God has the ultimate answer for him though. And, he has the ultimate answer for you and me. The thing for all of us to bear in mind is, and I don't want to be trite but, art is long, and life is short.

Let those weak minds, who live in doubt and fear,
To juggling priests for oracles repair;
One certain hour of death to each decreed,
My fixt, my certain soul from doubt has freed.
Rowe.