"18 Till I Die!!"

“There you are older by another year now” said the brain of a youngster to his heart, “And you still don’t know where you’re headed”. His heart replied “I agree, no point in growing up, when you lack direction, no point in breathing if it lacks purpose” He let his brain and heart continue their complaining, you see in a few days he’ll be celebrating his birthday, and just like every new year he has witnessed in his life, even this one seems to lack direction, and purpose. His thoughts stopped there and then like always they questioned themselves “Seriously! What is this life for?”

As youngsters many of us want to live for the moment, we hardly want to work, but surely want to party harder. We want to shop on an impulse, make friends in a click, and lead a life where the world revolves around us. In retrospection, I seem to have done the same. A major portion of my life was lived on my terms. Every time I lived for myself I came back home emptier than before. What good is it to have all the pleasures in life and yet not sleep in peace? What good is it to smile for a few fleeting moments and yet feel that life itself is a pain? If any of you are in that position where though you seem to be living your life to the fullest, you still seem to be missing something. Though outwardly you are screaming “18 till I die” but on the inside you are troubled by death. Then probably you would like to know about the minor portion in my life.

This minor portion is the part where I started living my life in God’s terms. This minor portion is where I found the purpose of my life. This were I realized that joy is not in eating, but it is in feeding the hungry. Joy is not in wearing new clothes, but joy is clothing the naked. Joy is not in getting drunk, but it is in saving a drunkard. Joy is not in raising my hands at a rock concert for nothing, but it is in raising my hands in thanks to God. Joy is not in copying during my exams, but it is in preparing and scoring to glorify God. Joy is not in working to get noticed by my boss, but working so that my boss notices the God in me. Joy is not in carrying shopping bags but it is in carrying the cross. Every time I took up my cross and followed Him, I lost some friends, but I gained many others and I got abused, but I gained respect. And just like He promised, from the least He has made me testimony.

This year when we get to our birthday there are two ways for us to look at the New Year. We could tell ourselves this year is going to be purposeless, else we can trust God and except great things from Him. We can sulk and be depressed thinking we are nothing or we can wait on our Lord, like a child waiting in anticipation for an ice-cream, and just like the child we can scream for joy when we finally see our dreams coming to life. We can tell ourselves ‘It’s my life’ or we can say ‘Take my life’ . We can claim that ‘I’ll be 18 till I die’ or we can proclaim ‘I’ll be a Christian till I die’.


Only one life, it will soon be past,
Only what's done for Christ will last.