What Are you Living For?

Have you ever seen someone who expects the world to bow at their feet and jump when they say jump? They might as well have "It's All About Me" tatooed to their forehead.  They look pretty obnoxious, don’t they?  We think to ourselves, “When is that person going to get a clue that the world doesn’t revolve around them?”  And yet, secretly I think, most of us want to feel as if we are important, as if we are making a difference in this thing we call LIFE. We struggle, we strive, and we try to figure out what’s the next step to take, the next thing we should do, so that our lives have meaning.

I’m sure you’ve thought about it.   Whether it’s a nagging thought in your subconscious mind or a question that catches you unaware in the midst of a dark and confusing time, we have all wondered, what on earth am I doing here?  What’s it all about? What is my life purpose?  What will my legacy be when I’m gone? 

When we are kids we naturally think life is all about us.  Hopefully we mature beyond that mindset, but there are always those who appear to be in the game of life purely to satisfy themselves, with little regard for anyone else.  I certainly don’t claim to have it all together, and don’t get me wrong, I love attention as much as the next person, but I did catch a clue a number of years ago that this life is not about ME!

We attended a beautiful wedding this weekend for friends of our daughter.  Of course as a woman the big questions are always “what do I wear” and “how do I look”.  Fortunately, I’ve learned that the person that everyone is really looking at is the bride.  This day wasn’t about me, but I had been given the opportunity to be a part of it.  How could I make it the best day possible for her?  This is the mindset I want to have each and every day of my life.

I wish I was the kind of person that could turn off their mind every once in a while and think about nothing, but sadly my mind is a lot like the energizer bunny and it just keeps going and going and going.  I punish myself because I never feel like I’m doing enough.  I wonder if my life has really made any difference at all.  But in the quiet moments when it’s just me and God, He gently reminds me that I am making life way more complicated than it needs to be.

What really matters in life is what matters most to God.  Relationships.  God doesn’t need us, but He does want us.  He wants us to reconnect with him like it was in the beginning, when this nasty little thing called sin had yet to enter the picture.  I want my life to echo the words of Paul in his letter to the Philippian believers, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)  In Christ, our lives gain meaning.

Sometimes I wonder why so many people hope to go to heaven when they die, when they don’t seem to want to have anything to do with God while they are here on earth.  Since my life on earth is only a brief segment of my eternal existence, I want to be building the relationship that will outlast all others.  So whether someone likes what I’m wearing or doesn’t like how I look is really insignificant in the grand scheme of things. 

Jesus lived and died for the sole purpose of reconnecting us to God.  In the process, He honored the Father with his life.  I want to live how Jesus lived, knowing that people matter to God.   I want to connect not only with those who look like me and share my values, but with those who are different and are far from God. I am hoping this blog accomplishes just that.

God wants me to find meaning in loving others the way He loves me.   Every day of my life, like this blog, starts as a blank sheet of paper.  What I make of it depends on what I am willing to give.  I want everything I do to be done in the name of Jesus, so that God gets the glory.  (Colossians 3:17) And when it’s all said and done, and I pass from this life as we know it, I hope the story of my life has this tag line, “It was not about her.  It was all for Him.”