What is Life?

What is life? The bible says that life is but a vapor.  Here today and gone in an instant.  Some vapors appear longer than others but the one thing that remains the same is that no matter how long the vapor lingers, in an instant it is gone.  For life to be so fleeting is difficult to comprehend.  It is unfair!  It is dark!  Life is full of struggles and grief.  But life can also be beautiful and uplifting.  I think it is safe to say life is the original paradox. 

            What is life? Life is deep and often lonely.  Life comes with no manual and no instructions.  There are many times when life leaves me feeling like I am stumbling, making mistake after mistake, and never able to do anything right.  The older I get, the more life experiences challenge what I thought I knew and who I thought I was.

            What is life? What is life without hope?  Not worth living, I am afraid.  If life and hope were personified life would be the empath.  The deep thinker.  Life would be the intensity of emotions.  Life would be the flashes of deep red anger.  The flashes of red outburst in response to injustice.  Life would be the streaming of deep purples and blues of grief in response to loss.  But hope? Hope is lively.  Hope is full of promise.  Hope is the bright yellow that says keep going, you have got this!  Hope is the orange that is full of warmth and comfort.  By themselves, life and hope would be simply ordinary, but when you put them together you get a masterpiece.  A beautiful abstract piece of artwork that illuminates the treasures that are found in the darkness.