I mean, eventually, hopefully a long, long time from right now, but yes, I'm going to die. Such is the nature of life, that the only way we are not to die is if we are never born. And as I type this, and as you read this, we're too late for that. Every fragment of a millisecond of our existence pushes us closer to death. It's not even some discrete measure of units closer to death, it's just always happening. A continuous flow of nearing death.
So what, then, if we are to always walk through the valley of the shadow of death, per the 23rd Psalm? According to the Bible, it is the Lord that shepherds us, restores our soul, leads us to righteousness, and bring goodness and mercy to our lives. And that's cool and everything, but I'm not exactly the most religious person. (Although I will concede that the Bible is home to some pretty awesome quotes.) So what am I supposed to do in the valley of the shadow of death?
Why can't I just do all those things in Psalm 23, but give myself the credit? What's stopping me from being righteous, soulful, good, and merciful on my own peril? What's stopping any of us from doing that on our own accord? Not that I'm knocking the Lord or anything, but if I can't give Him the credit, who does it go to? I think it's kinda bitchin' how we get to be all awesome and everything to spite death for our entire life in the universe. And once we die, well, either we'll go into the house of the Lord forever, or nothing. Maybe nothing will happen, and in that case, I guess no one can really look back on their life. Which means all we have to go from is what we're doing right now, in the universe, and to know that no matter what, we kicked as much ass as possible. We didn't hold back, we did what we wanted, and lived the kind of life we wanted. Why let something like the valley of the shadow of death stop you from that? Either way, you're going to die. Why go through life afraid of that, when you can embrace this inevitability and live life as best you possibly can?
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