When we see a big tree growing where some Highway Department has decided to put a road, we realize that the poor tree just can’t get out of the way. Even the strongest trunks and the deepest roots are helpless before chain saw and bulldozer. Similarly, when we spray Round-Up on a patch of weeds, or if we pull them up by their roots, there’s nothing that any of them can do about it. They can’t bark, bite, snarl, or growl. They can but die.
Grass, if it had feelings, would prefer not to be mowed. Grass plants wouldn’t like having their roots compressed by heavy mowing machinery. They wouldn’t want their their leaves of grass sliced off, and they’d positively hate being raked.
But, our own ability to move away or defend ourselves from danger may not be as useful as we think it is. We can’t escape the blast from a mad bomber. Nor can we get away from a collapsing building. Mostly, we can’t live any longer than we’ve been programmed. And, there’s not much we can do about whatever cause of death will be visited upon us.
Unlike the plants, we do know that we will die. We do know that our soul will leave our body. We hope it will leave in a state of grace so that it can spend eternity with He Who lovingly programmed it. To that end, we must give serious thought.
There is an exception to our universal desire to live as long as we can. If we should miraculously become aware that we were about to fall into a mortal sin, and that we would die while in that state of sin, the smartest thing we could do is ask to have our earthly life cut short before we did something that would keep our soul from an eternity of heavenly joy.
