One of the last lines in "Here the Birds' Journey Ends," a poem written by Mahmoud Darwish, reads, "And we will etch on the final rocks, 'Long live life, long live life.'" That's quite a wish.  On the one hand, we know that, unless something extraordinary happens on earth, none of us will live indefinitely on this planet.  One day, we all will die.  As much as we may treasure life, this life we live in this present moment, we know that we will not be able to enjoy it forever.  Eventually, it will end.
     On the other hand, we know that our lives are but one manifestation of the life that grounds the lives that all of us live, that undergirding and fueling our individual lives is life, the life that animates and enlivens us all.  Without this life, none of us would be here.  That we are born, live, and die is the fruit, the outward and visible individuated expression of this "life" that pervades the planet.  We live because there is life, because life exists, exists not just as a concept but as papable and concrete reality.  Without this life, we would have no reality.
     So, yes, indeed, may life live.  May we always be part of and experience this vast bios, this teeming movement of existence that gestates and ripples across the universe and, specifically for us, sweeps and pervades planet Earth.  May life always be, may life always be here to birth us, grow us, enlighten us, even, sadly enough, end us.  May life always be here for us.
     One day, however, even this "life" will end.  The laws of physics demand it.  Nothing lasts forever, not even this bios which we--and everyone who has ever lived or will live--enjoy.
     Or does it?  If this "life" came about through evolution and circumstance, then, yes, we would expect it, like all other things, to end.  That's just the way things are.  We are born, we live, we die, then other people are born, live, and die, and so on until the bios in which we all find existence dies, too.  Tragic, perhaps, but it's reality.
     But it also leaves us without any meaning:  what, really, was the point of anything?
     What if, however, if life is not the product of random variation and circumstance, but the work of God?  What if God is the author of life, this vast and remarkable bios (and our individual expressions of it) we enjoy?  What if God created life, intended for it to be, thus endowing it with meaning and purpose?  What if life has a reason to be here?
     If God created life, then, yes, let life continue to live--even if we one day die.  Why?  If God created life, then it follows that God can create it again.  And again.  And again.  God brings life to be.  Hence, even if we lose this present life, as we one day will, we will live again.  An eternal God who creates a finite existence can also create an eternal one.  Life will continue to live, but it will be lived forever.
     So, yes, long live life, long live this present existence.  Who really wants to die?  But long live even more life beyond it, long live an eternal life (the life) created by an eternal God.  Long live the present, yet long live the future, a future only possible because an eternal God creates it, a future only possible because an intentionally caring God has endowed life with a meaning beyond itself, a meaning rooted in the absolute meaningfulness of an eternal and purposeful creator.
     Long live life:  God's life for us.