Alive and Addicted

I awoke with a startling revelation this morning: My name is Louima Lilite and I am alive.

Whoa!


For far too long, I took being alive for granted. However, nearing 17 months of consecutive losses (the deaths of my father, two brothers, and friends), I now readily see life as a miracle.

Again, I confess: My name is Lou and I am alive . . . and addicted.

Addicted?
Yes, I am addicted to air.

Each new molecule of air entering and exiting my system is a powerful drug that beckons me to breathe and breathe and breathe. I cannot have enough of this substance -- my lungs, my nostrils, my brain, my heart, my vocal folds, and my whole being crave it. And in that I am not alone; all human beings, in fact, are addicted to air. The second a person is cured of this addiction is the moment when earthly life evaporates. 

Hence, I breathe.
I inhale and exhale generous lungfuls of air.

Air is life.
Air gives life.
Air sustains life.

Since God is spirit or air, the above statements can be re-written as follows:

God is life.
God gives life.
God sustains life.

And since it has been established through the Word that God is love, we can further say:

Love is life.
Love gives life.
Love sustains life.

Perhaps the problem that plagues our species is the illusory notion that life, true life, is independent of three essential entities -- air, God, and love. 

For one, the frenetic pace of life has all but eradicated time and space in which to breathe. Gradually, our head and heart muscles atrophy for lack of oxygen -- the kind that energizes and sensitizes us toward fruitfulness and intimacy.

For another, the self-entitled ingratitude and the self-glorifying spirit invading the nooks and crannies of heads and hearts arrogantly suggest that life is just fine without God in the equation. Thus, we foolishly overdose on self-sufficiency -- refusing to let God pump out of our stomachs the poisonous lies we had steadily imbibed.

Moreover, society continues to tout its deceitful wares . . .

. . . it is fine to preach unconditional love without liking outcasts.
. . . it is okay to claim unconditional love without forgiving offenders.
. . . it is fine to recommend unconditional love without listening to the cries of sufferers.
. . . it is okay to promote unconditional love without lending a helping hand to orphans and widows.

In other words, we are being taught the idiocy of loveless living to the cacophonous tune of, "I love you but I don't have to like you."

Are we so dull?
Can we not see that all persons are in desperate need of genuine love?
Do we not comprehend that, just like we love those who like us, those estranged from most can only learn to love us and others in return if (and only if) we learn to like them?
Are we not conscious of the necessity to slow down long enough to notice, see, hear, heed, reach out to, embrace, uphold, encourage, strengthen, and bless anyone and everyone strategically placed on our paths?

One thing this long streak of losses has taught me is this: 

Life without air (time and space to breathe), without God (recognizing human dependence and inter-dependence), and without love (sacrificial and unconditional commitment or grace) is not life at all. Such a life is death.

Today, life is beckoning you and me to surrender our addictive nature to its proper rendering. 

a)  Let us breathe -- taking in loads of molecules of air. Let us carve out time and space to swim in air, to relax, to stand firmly grounded though all around us totters.
b)  Let us worship -- revering the One in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Let us be open to the Father, attentive to His Word, and ready to obey His Way and Will for our lives.
c)  Let us love -- yielding our minds, hearts, souls, and bodies to our Creator and placing the interests of our fellow humans above our own. Let us be generous with our affection, commitment, kindness, patience, and respect. 
 
Life on this earth is fleeting. 
It is like a tulip in the field -- it blooms in the spring.

We have been granted no guarantee of life for the next minute. Five minutes from now can usher us into the winter of our lives. Might we take stock today and live life to the fullest? Might we learn to "number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12, NIV)?

Indeed, let us truly live while we are still alive.