What is the Meaning of Life?

Have you ever stopped to think about the big picture of what life is? Why are we here? What is important? Where are we going? What are we doing?

I often hear that we should "live in the moment." Being a senior in high school makes it very difficult to do this. I'm thinking about the future in every thing that I do, and everything that I don't do. Most of the time, thinking about the future only succeeds in making me freak out and become stressed. This generally happens when I think about the upcoming months, such as graduating high school and starting college. When I think about things that are much farther in the future, it actually calms me down and helps me realize that what I freak out about right now will become very insignificant as my life goes on.

Tonight I took a moment to map out what the typical American life looks like, and this is what I came up with. Please note that these numbers are approximate for the typical American. They will differ by a few months or a few years in some cases.

Childhood
-5 years of "freedom," where we have no responsibility whatsoever. During this time in our life, we are free to do whatever we desire, but we aren't old enough to realize it.
-13 years of school. We have to spend the majority of our time learning for 13 years. We get a little bit of time off, but even during our time off, there is normally still some school to do.

Adulthood
-This is where we get our first choice. 4 or more years of college, or straight into working.
-About 45 years of working. (If you're lucky. Most people work longer.)
-10-20 years of retirement, depending on how long you live. This is our only real freedom on Earth.
-Eternity in Heaven or Hell. You have your whole life to make this choice.

Somehow, for me, looking at life this way makes things such as passing a test seem way less significant. In reality, our life should revolve around the last part:eternity. Where am I going to spend eternity? Where are you going to spend eternity? What about your mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandma, grandpa, son, daughter, niece, nephew, best friend, neighbor, worst enemy, teacher, etc. etc. etc.?

I don't know why God decided to make people, and why this is the way life is. There are definitely times when I would rather just spend time in heaven with Jesus and not have to worry about worldly things anymore. So, while I don't know why there is a such thing as life, I do know that God created it, and it must have been for a reason. I do know that God intended for all people to spend eternity in heaven with Him. I don't know how to end this post. So bye.