You and I are human beings. We live on the earth, and to say that we are extraordinary is not pride, but truth. The Bible tells us that we are made in the image of God. We are not angels, but in Hebrews the second chapter, we read, “What is man, that thou are mindful of him? ... Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownest him with glory and honour, and set him over the works of thy hands.” Mark Twain said, “God made us a little lower than angels, and we have been getting a little lower ever since.”

It is true, we were made from the dust of the earth. God believed in us, and he gave us something we call “free will.”

We can choose to do good or we can choose to do evil. The best of us can do horrible and evil things, and the worst of us can be magnanimous and generous and do the best of things.

The body we live in is subject to disease and decay. It is a temporary home for our short visit on earth. God breathed into us the breath of life, and we became a living soul. That soul and spirit are the signature marks God stamped upon every human being. There is no exception.

We are told that one tiny single cell has more than one hundred thousand moving parts. God loves you and me, no matter what we choose to do. Always remember that life on earth will never be complete and we will never know peace and joy until we respond positively to his love and forgiveness.

Let us never forget that we are our brother’s keeper. If we do not love our brothers, we cannot love God. The world will never know peace until we learn to love our brothers. Mark it down, the best thing we can do is make peace with our brothers and love one another. It is the answer to most of the problems we have.

John Oxenham wrote these awesome lines:

To every one there openeth, a way and ways and a way.

And the high soul climbs the highway,

And the low soul gropes the low;

And in between on the misty flats the rest drift to and fro;

But to every man there openeth a high way and a low,

And every man decideth the way his soul shall go.

A wise man, centuries ago, reminded civilization that some things never come back: the spoken word, the fleeting arrow and the neglected opportunity.

What we do for ourselves, will soon pass away. What we do for others will last forever. Such are the treasures that last forever. The best illustration I know is the beautiful poem by Will Allen Droomgoole, titled “Building the Bridge.”

An old man going a lone highway

Came, at the evening, cold and gray,

To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,

Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;

The sullen stream had no fears for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side,

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim, near,

“You are wasting strength with building here;

Your journey will end with the ending day;

You never again must pass this way;

You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide.

Why build you the bridge at eventide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head;

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followed after me today

A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

“This chasm, that has been naught to me,

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;

Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”

In the eyes of God, what we do for others will last forever!

Robert V. Ozment is a retired United Methodist minister.