Journey before Destination

"This is an evil that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all.... But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion."

~Ecclesiastes 9:3a, 4

Life before death. Strength Before Weakness. Journey before Destination. Living is harder than dying. Your duty is to live. All men are weak sometimes. Strength does not make you capable to rule; strength makes you capable of service. In the end, all men die. How you live is more important that what you accomplish.

~Brandon Sanderson (author's paraphrase)

People see the heading "Death Comes to All" above Ecclesiastes 9 and brace themselves for a passage on despair. On the contrary, the shared destination of death is a source of joy. If death did not come to all, then the greatest aspiration of life would be to achieve the proper destination. If the same result did not come to all men, then our lives would be dedicated to achievement. If all men were not doomed to die, then it would be more noble for me to abandon the one to save the ninety-nine.

There is joy and freedom in knowing that all men die, that all life is vain. It allows us to be concerned with how we live, not what our lives produce. It allows us to do what is right in itself, instead of worrying about what action will produce the right effect. It allows us to lovingly leave the ninety-nine to bring home the one. If not for death, we would all be slaves to results. How freeing it is to be a slave to love.