"Our little life is rounded with a sleep"

When my boyfriend went to Oxford University last summer, he brought me back some amazing, old books.  One of them was French poetry (of which I only understand about two percent of the words), and the other was this antique book from the 1920s, Swan Song, that was mostly meant as an hommage to my last name.  I've only read a few pages of the book here and there, but the quote in the epigraph struck me. "We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep."

If you're anything like me, even bitter and hopeless words from Shakespeare sound beautiful.  But do you ever sink into moments feeling like your life doesn't even mean anything?  Or have you ever been around that melancholy "Debbie Downer" who interjects depressing, negative thoughts into conversation?  Well, romantics, I have something to say.

First of all, you are right.  Our life is short and rounded off with the "sleep" of death.  Only some of us will even live a long life of 80 years.  In James 4, we are reminded that, "You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes... You ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'"

So that brings me to my second point... Since we do not know what will happen tomorrow, we must trust that everything is in God's hands.  And to all of you pessimists who are struggling with seeing any significant molecule of your being... you don't know anything!  Do you think that Anne Frank died with a feeling of satisfaction of her life at only 15 years old, sick and in a concentration camp?  Do you think she knew that her diary would be published two years later and that she would become a symbol for children of the holocaust and people oppressed all over the world? No. She didn't.  In just the same way, you have no idea the significance of your "little life."

So finally, we must learn to hold both of these truths at the same time.  We must remember that we do not even know what will happen tomorrow and should all follow the cliché to "live like you are dying."  Our "Swan Song" should be how we live everyday, not just when death seems near.  Also, we should have faith that God can use us in big ways.  Another famous quote says, “To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.” Live to serve and connect with others.  That's just yet another example of the many positives to having a mentor.

So get out and do something with your "little life," because God loves to use little things.