PATHS IN LIFE TO LIFE OR DEATH: A ONGOING MEDITATION ABOUT MY COMPANY IN LIFE'S JOURNEY (Christopher Klinges)

We contain what we sustain;

And are drained of what is not maintained.

In this simple economy,

See the shaping of our destiny.

We contain what we sustain;

And are drained of all that's not maintained.

In this simple economy,

See God's work in you and me.

The mountains fall; the earth is split asunder.

The heavens shake; the sky is filled with thunder.

Woe attacks the damned man's heart.

God's love from the blessed will ne'er depart.

The souls that have passed through this place to their ultimate destruction... their numbers must be staggering. ("For strait is the gate; and FEW there be that find it.")

From an observation point at the very portal into this world, one can see a fork in the road directing each person either One Way or the other. And these two roads from birth's beginning through time to their end in the distance of eternity are not equal in any way to the observer who contemplates what is happening here.

Though we waste time without a care,

We are judged by the fruit we bear.

Bad or good, it is clear to see,

The fruit depends upon the tree.

I know that there's a reason

All things flourish in their season.

Ever in my thought your tide arrives,

Flooding shores of lives combined;

All done before but part of all to come; 

Beauty and truth: more than the sum.

The foolish have their way;

Wise men have NO say.

For mere sake of pleasure,

We squander precious treasure.

No industry; no wealth produced;

And most by perverse thought seduced.