2012 - is it the end?

Per Nostradamus, the world should have already ended.  Per the Mayan calendar, the world will end next year.  Should we look for the end, wait for it, look for those portents and signs?  Someone recently asked me what I thought of all the prophecies about the end of the world, was I trying to figure out when the world would end?

In a simple response - No.

Why?

From "The Dance" by Garth Brooks:
And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance
Yes, my life is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance

You must endure many hardships in order to enter the Kingdom of God
Acts 14:22

So, with my head held high, whether in pain or joy, I won't be looking for the end and missing life.  For while I could do without the pain and the trials, I would miss out on what went with it.

"This" by Darius Rucker
Maybe it didn't turn out like I planned
Maybe that's why I'm such, such a lucky man
(Chorus)
For every stoplight I didn't make
Every chance I did or I didn't take
All the nights I went too far
All the girls that broke my heart
All the doors that I had to close
All the things I knew but I didn't know
Thank God for all I missed
Cause it led me here to
This

This testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature, complete, not lacking anything. James 1

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  James 1:1-2 (NIV)