happy birthday to you...
Dear Friend,
James asks a question in his letter found in the New Testament (the far right half). It reads, “What is your life?” Then James goes on to say, “for you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” -james 4:14
So I have read this verse in James what seems like a hundred different times, but recently I have begun to stare at it a little differently.
Do you ever go out to dinner and at some point during your meal you see what seems like all the people that work there (even your waiter, which is weird because you need more iced tea) and they gather around a table and they sing the Happy Birthday song?? Or what is even worse (in my opinion) is if it is your birthday and they sing to you. I hate that. I always feel bad for the people singing to me and also I feel really uncomfortable being sung to. But anyways that is beside the point. The song…now that is the point…there is something about the Happy Birthday song that makes me think of death. I know. It is strange. It should be a song that makes me think of life…right?
I think the reason for my abnormal thoughts about the Happy Birthday song is because I always think of movies when I hear that song. It is always those moments in the movies when they do those flashbacks of a persons life and they always show those scenes where all the friends and family are gathered around the person singing the Happy Birthday song to them. And it is always in slow motion because the director wants to capture the fun that they were having or the laughter that was being had. It is almost like they are trying to capture what things used to be like. This is normally because in the movie the person had died, or some other kind of tragedy had happened to them.
Well I was at this Mexican restaurant last week and sure enough the servers came out and they started to sing to this little girl…her name was Hailey (I hope I spelt her name right).
Happy Birthday to you…
Happy Birthday to you…
Happy Birthday dear Hailey…
Happy Birthday to you…
Watching them sing to Hailey that night made me think about the movies and then the thoughts about the movies caused me to think about what James said about our lives and how they are like a mist that appears for just a little time and then vanishes.
These words on Sunday got a little heavier…vivid…I had someone close to me commit suicide…up until Sunday I hadn’t really known anyone who had died like that. I mean I had heard of people before, but never did I know them well.
I don’t know what to say really. I guess I just never thought that suicide could be a part of what that mist is that James is talking about…or what ‘a little time and then vanishes’ entails.
heart.soul.mind.
kyle diroberts
p.s. Pray for me. I have loved a lot this week so far and there is still much more love to be given…I’m tired and a little weak. thank you.
James asks a question in his letter found in the New Testament (the far right half). It reads, “What is your life?” Then James goes on to say, “for you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” -james 4:14
So I have read this verse in James what seems like a hundred different times, but recently I have begun to stare at it a little differently.
Do you ever go out to dinner and at some point during your meal you see what seems like all the people that work there (even your waiter, which is weird because you need more iced tea) and they gather around a table and they sing the Happy Birthday song?? Or what is even worse (in my opinion) is if it is your birthday and they sing to you. I hate that. I always feel bad for the people singing to me and also I feel really uncomfortable being sung to. But anyways that is beside the point. The song…now that is the point…there is something about the Happy Birthday song that makes me think of death. I know. It is strange. It should be a song that makes me think of life…right?
I think the reason for my abnormal thoughts about the Happy Birthday song is because I always think of movies when I hear that song. It is always those moments in the movies when they do those flashbacks of a persons life and they always show those scenes where all the friends and family are gathered around the person singing the Happy Birthday song to them. And it is always in slow motion because the director wants to capture the fun that they were having or the laughter that was being had. It is almost like they are trying to capture what things used to be like. This is normally because in the movie the person had died, or some other kind of tragedy had happened to them.
Well I was at this Mexican restaurant last week and sure enough the servers came out and they started to sing to this little girl…her name was Hailey (I hope I spelt her name right).
Happy Birthday to you…
Happy Birthday to you…
Happy Birthday dear Hailey…
Happy Birthday to you…
Watching them sing to Hailey that night made me think about the movies and then the thoughts about the movies caused me to think about what James said about our lives and how they are like a mist that appears for just a little time and then vanishes.
These words on Sunday got a little heavier…vivid…I had someone close to me commit suicide…up until Sunday I hadn’t really known anyone who had died like that. I mean I had heard of people before, but never did I know them well.
I don’t know what to say really. I guess I just never thought that suicide could be a part of what that mist is that James is talking about…or what ‘a little time and then vanishes’ entails.
heart.soul.mind.
kyle diroberts
p.s. Pray for me. I have loved a lot this week so far and there is still much more love to be given…I’m tired and a little weak. thank you.
posted by Kyle DiRoberts at 11:14 PM
3 Comments:
I haven't been able to get over these words from Psalms 39 for a couple weeks now..."Lord, remind me of how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered- how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath...And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you."
Praying for Wind in your sail...
As you know Darryl DelH and i are working on a book together on Ecclesiastes and the book has been haunting me. “Meaningless! “ Meaningless!” Says the Teacher “Utterly Meaningless! Everything is Meaningless.”
Although disturbing, i like how raw and real Eccl is. its like an ancient phil yancey or blue like jazz. i like that he openly struggles with life, theology, in the pages of Scripture.
HOW-ever, "meaningless" is not the message of the book! The Hebrew word is “hevel”, (impressed?)which means, “vapor” or “breath.” As you learned from Argentina sometimes it can be difficult to capture the meaning of some words in the translation process. at first glance english words like “steam” and “vapor” do not seem to help- but they do when we realize that “vapor” is not meaningless. Like “steam”, it can be wasted or it can be used. Check out, for example, its use in Psalm 39:5: “Behold, you have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in you sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath.'
The usage of “hevel” conveys a brief and transitory status. Because life is a vapor (James 4:14), sometimes it appears to be a futile attempt to try to make sense of it all. The words of Eccl are not the words of a bitter, pessimistic, and bitter old man. Rather, they are that of a wise man teaching us wisdom and that we shold be very careful with what we do with our "vapor". He suggests, rightfullyso that we live a life in reverence to God, have fun, enjoy your friends, enjoy your day, find a job you like- why? because life is too short. Carpe Noche. I'm very proud of you.
you have my prayers and even more...keep your eyes up my friend
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