A Speck

Its vastness sometimes scares me. Like a blanket, deep down its cover are creatures that seem out of this world. I have respect for its varying calmness and destructive nature, but I still marvel at its beautiful hue. Stretching far and wide, earning our planet the name; the blue planet.

The ocean covers 71% of the earth, which has a diameter of 12,742 km. The earth revolves around the sun, which is 109 times larger than earth. In the big expanse of outer space, lined with countless stars, UY Scuti stands out. This hypergiant star has a diameter 1400 times larger than the sun and is 100,000 times more luminous than the sun.

When I think about the sheer size of the universe and its heavenly bodies relative to myself, I sometimes face an existential crisis. Trying to answer the question, what is life? In the book of James 4:14, an answer is put forward. “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

Relative to the sun, I am like a microscopic dust particle, floating in the atmosphere unnoticed. And yet at the same time, I can be the reason why you can’t concentrate in class for just five minutes. I can be the dictator, who kills half of your family and making your life miserable or I can be a kind stranger who helps you in your time of need.

I think it’s necessary for everyone to go through this kind of thoughts. So they can ultimately seek to know their purpose and why God put them on this earth. Sometimes thinking about how fragile our lives are is considered dark and people usually avoid it. It is humbling to realise that we can be here and then the next minute we vanish like mist.

Does this mean then that life is insignificant? In this era of online shopping and shipping of goods from one continent to the other, if an item is marked as fragile, the better the care it’s handled with. Wouldn’t it be prudent then to realise that we are here only for a certain period of time and make the most of every moment, every opportunity and every word?

The first part of James 4:14 starts with the following words, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.” We should plan; we should work for a better future for ourselves and others. But that should not be at the cost of us not making the most of what we have now. Tomorrow is not promised, as cliché as that sounds it remains to be true. Sometimes the present is miserable and we would give anything to crawl out of the situation. We should fight then with all we’ve got, love with all we’ve got and enjoy every moments like it was our last. If we constantly reminded ourselves to be in the moment and events don’t last forever, wouldn’t it be enough to energise when our hearts become weary?

And does size matter? Can size be used to judge significance? I sat there squarely in my seat; listening to the good word of the Lord. We had just sung a beautiful hymn, and the mood was just right to open up my heart and mind for the message from God’s anointed messenger. What if I hadn’t looked right that particular day? Maybe I would not have seen that person, but I did. My heart sunk into my stomach. I hadn’t seen this individual for months and at that moment everything stopped. The preacher at the pulpit didn’t know what was going on, not even the people next to me. I could have started crying at that moment and they would have thought, “Wow, he must really be feeling this sermon.”

We all have those moments where we are going through something and none seems to notice. But the turmoil in your heart is as big as UY Scuti, burning bright, tightening your chest ready to implode. People go on with their lives, laughing, listening to a sermon or making merry, while the void inside you is like the largest black hole in the universe, sucking you in from the world around you.

It wouldn’t matter if I told you there are 9 billion people on this planet, that one person or that one issue is all that will matter to you. Until it’s resolved a ‘small’ issue might be as big as the universe to the person going through it.

We all were put on this earth to serve a particular purpose. So are we special because of how we dress or how we speak? Or are we special because we were put on this earth to do certain things, to certain people in certain situations. Even if we despise the sun, it will still rise in the east and set in the west. Its rays will still make photosynthesis possible. But what good is the sun without bees that dance from one flower to the next pollinating plants?

Understanding what you were made to be will give you the confidence to go through life. Let’s say we didn’t know that light is needed for photosynthesis the sun will still shine on. Recognition for our efforts is encouraging but that should not be why we do what we do. And isn’t it humbling when we understand that we are all of equal importance?

I get my confidence and identity from the Creator of heaven and earth. I know that He has a plan for me, a plan to prosper me and not to harm me, and to give me hope and a future. So all I have to do is seek Him with all my heart to know what is for me. There is what has been set out just for you. You better start thinking about it.