What Really Matters? - 25 January 2010

We are all on a journey. We may all be at different stages; we may be travelling in various different ways and facing many different challenges.  Events in our daily lives can become all- consuming, and the danger is that we forget what really matters.  We race round with shallow relationships, frenzied schedules and preoccupied souls, it is the rat race at it’s best - and we all get caught up in it.

We start with the challenge of school and getting the grades, then the job of our dreams and the development of our career, nurturing a family, the desire and striving for financial security and a well-planned retirement whilst retaining our looks.

Then at some point, it all stops.  The Game of Life carries on for others, but our time is up, the game is over.  A bit of post-match analysis takes place and we try to work out if we have been a success.

The following thought struck me.  We all desire worldly possessions because it is the way we are programmed, we think it gives us fulfilment.  It turns out these are no more than props, and at the “checkout” at the end of the game, they are all put back in the box, God’s box.  They were never ours in the first place.

Human beings are the only creatures whose frontal lobes are so developed that they know the game will end.  This is our glory, curse, warning and opportunity all in one.   When people ask when their day will come, the answer is that they should live every day as their last – arrange your life on earth around what matters most.  The box will wait.