Heavenly Father, I praise You for brothers in Christ who keep me accountable and give me and my family help and wisdom when they can. I praise You that we do not do this alone. Help me and all who pray this prayer to have faith in the wisdom that it gives us in our walk with You.
The way that I live my life now, in honor of You, can be summed up in three Latin phrases, Nunc Coepi, Memento Mori, and Memento Vivere. Nuc Coepi means to Begin again, or Now I begin. I use this phrase to help me understand that everything in life, from the most complex of issues to the simplest, is a series of new starts, always in Christ Jesus. The challenges and difficulties I will encounter, or have encountered, are opportunities to begin again. I even think of this with the simplest of tasks. A large pile of dishes in the sink? You have only taken care of one of them…Nunc Coepi. Laundry room full of clothes? You have only done one load…Nunc Coepi. One step at a time, begin again. Thinking of life this way has taught me that Christ in His wisdom and love for me has allowed for challenges that allow me to start over. Each one of them has a new start as the sun rises the next day… Nunc Coepi, Begin again.
Memento Mori means Remember that you must die. Life is short and I want to live it in a way that recognizes that my life is fleeting and will end soon. I am more than this flesh and blood that I see. One day I will not be here physically, but my soul will go on and someday I will be with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven along with the Holy Spirit. I must remember this daily. I must know that today may be my last. How do I want to live it? Loving God and Others and showing them, or just doing whatever I want not making a difference for others? I know what my Lord wants and I am willing to do what He asks of me. Therefore, Memento Mori….
Memento Vivere means to Remember that you must Live. I don’t want to be focused on acting in a way that only focuses on death. I must remember to live. I must remember that the people around me, my family, my friends and loved ones, and others that I encounter along the way all matter and that I must live. Life is but a breath, but live life in abundance. So, I must remember that, in life and death, I belong to God.
I want to encourage others to live life in such a way that remember, we will be constantly starting over, we will die and we must live. Scripture is filled with examples of these things, society always tells us differently, or will not give us the real reason we need to do so, the Father in heaven, His son at His right hand, and the Holy Spirit.
I thank my God always concerning the grace of God which was given to me by Christ Jesus, that I am enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in me, so that I come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm me to the end, that I may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom I am called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [1Corinthians 1:4-9]