In a previous article, I started a dialogue about life. The meaning of life is not about days, but traces that are printed, not hours that pass and go; it is a life of labor and fatigue, challenges of despair and overcoming obstacles. What drives us to progress is the treasure of trust. He wondered, “What do you mean by trust?! I answered, “Trust through which we decide the principles that we have to follow in the journey of our life! Trust that does not let us wobble in front of the storms that blows against us! Trust that grants us the ability to stand up when we stumble or fall in the way! Trust that makes life meaningful, purposeful and having a certain message. He hastened in replying, “Trusting whom?! Or what?!
At first, we must have faith in God. Life without our trust in Him, blessed be His Name, is nothing but a constant anxiety that generates a series of steps that show man that he is rushing toward everything he believes to be the path of safety. Yet, he only reaps psychological and physical exhaustion that leads him to a vicious circle of pain and suffering!! And while man believes that he is achieving his own security, yet he stumbles with the first experiences of life to discover that he did not achieve anything at all!! He said, “Do you request trust in God without struggling in life?! I said, “I seek that the path of life moves in quest and work that do not stop to achieve your hopes and goals, and that you should be filled with trust in the work of God and His support to you. Then it came to my mind the words of the Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi, “Nothing can exhaust our bodies like anxiety. One who has a little bit of faith in God should be ashamed of worrying about anything at all.”
He asked, “This matter, as you mentioned, needs first and foremost that we should work: Whoever trusts works, and who does not trust also works. Doesn’t he?!! I replied, “But there is a great difference between the work of both of them. He who strives in the way of life, trusting God, His work and support, has deeply inside great reassurance that a strong hand strengthens and supports him that he should not bother when he has problems or obstacles; he will be able to overcome them calmly and wisely. But imagine that a man walks the path of life, feeling that he carries its concerns and responsibilities alone, or as one person puts it, “thrown in the way of life alone”!! I think that the first goal he will set for himself is to satisfy his sense of security so as to plan his life and set his goals in everything he believes will grant him security. Some people spend the journey of their lives looking for money, others seeking power, and a third group trying to achieve a distinct social status and prestige; in the end each team discovers that it has not achieved the message for which man was created and that their lives have gone with the wind. He kept silent for a while, then he said, “Why did you consider them as achieving nothing?! I said to him, “I mentioned that they did not achieve their messages in life!! They may have gained wealth, power or prestige, but all these things are not a goal that man should pursue, but rather a product of hard work towards a real goal he wishes to achieve in life. Whoever has a message in life receives appreciation, love and prestige, and some of them received money or power, and … to be continued.
General Bishop Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
