Vita brevis - Latin for life is short
Several months ago I was doing some research on my family history and I found out a couple of interesting things:
1. We can trace our family all the way back to King Rhys, the great king of South Wales
2. The Price family has freaking cool Coat of Arms
3. We also have a freaking cool family tartan (a cloth with a particular pattern that was used to identify family)
4. The family mantra is Vita brevis, gloria aeterna, which means "Life is short, but glory is eternal."
Since then I've thought about that phrase often and wondered, "Am I making the most of opportunities that I have in my life?" And many times the answer is a painful, "No." So many days I live my life like a zombie going through motions but rarely do I live a day and feel fully alive. This is a sad reality.
We have such a short time on Earth and on average we spend 1/3 of our lives asleep, but are we living the other 2/3's in some sort of narcoleptic daze? I believe that we often do. There is more to life than merely existing, and it's time for each of us to wake up and live out our God-given destinies. I don't want to squander this time in my life and roll out of bed one day when I'm 50 and wonder what I did with a half-century of opportunities. I don't want to wonder if the people I care about know that I care. I don't want to wonder if I helped the people who needed it. I don't want to wonder if my dreams were out of reach. I want to make opportunities realities. I want to have vested and deep relationships. I want to help people because I've been helped. I want take this short life and make it matter.
So in this life, though it is only a vapor, let us live with purpose and intentionality, making the most of every opportunity, so that one day we will look back and be pleased with the life we lived.
