This brings me back to the title of the blog. What is the meaning of life? More importantly (for everyone), what is the meaning of my life? Wealth can be fleeting. Wealth can create choices. Severe lack of wealth can make you desperate. Of course, there are many kinds of wealth, obviously the financial kind. But how many of you have thought about the other kinds of wealth?
What about the wealth of friendship? Having lots of friends can make tough times so much easier. Having no friends can make the tough times suicidal. Friends are something that we all choose. We choose people as friends because of similar likes and interests, similar experiences, similar goals, similar personalities, even similar misfortunes. Remember, misery loves company. What does it say about you with the friends you have chosen?
On the other side, your family is not chosen, it is inherited. There may be things you hate about your family, things you cherish, things you admire, things you abhor (every teenager can relate to this!), things you emulate, things you strive to change (usually without much luck, unless you exhibit severe perseverance). Whenever we don't have strong feelings toward something, we emulate behaviors we have witnessed. That is why it is inevitable that we display traits of our parents, whether we like it or not. They were around when we were more vulnerable, formative, less experienced as children are. The older we get, the more experience we can draw on to make more informed decisions (choices), but we are always likely to repeat behaviors witnessed previously. History always repeats itself. When things get bad (or sometimes incredibly good as in the case of love), emotions cause us to change. However, change takes incredible energy and usually sacrifice. That is why most prefer their comfort zone, which is one degree or more away from mediocrity.
We are always running away from something, running toward something, or are just plain confused and have no idea which way to go. Keep in mind when it comes to running, are you actually making progress or just running on the hamster wheel getting nowhere? These are things to ponder.
What about emotional wealth? Are you a strong, level-headed person that can be counted on in all situations, or an emotional basketcase that falls apart all the time? Do you have rich, fruitful, deep, meaningful relationships that bless life in every sense of the word? Or is your life filled with shallow, empty, meaningless relationships that are fleeting as the dandelion spores in the wind? Where do fit in the spectrum?
What about spiritual wealth? Many will argue that this is the most important. Have you ever experience the peace of faith? Do you ever realize the power of prayer to lay your troubles at the feet of the Divine Almighty? Have you ever realized that you receive just the things you need when you truly need them, regardless of what you might think at the time? Faith is hope. Despair is unbelief. Think on this.
Tempus fugit (Latin for "time flies"), or more importantly time escapes, never to return. When you think about it, our life is usually very short in the grand scheme of things. Eternity, on the other hand, lasts forever. How long is forever? What do want to be doing forever? Do you have a choice? Free will vs. predestination? Many things to ponder there.
As always, the choice is yours as I constantly remind you in this blog.
Choices are great. They give us some control in this crazy world, but can also be condemning when we choose badly. Some choices are easy, some are hard. Some are simple, many are complex. Many times, you don't know whether your choice was good or bad - maybe for a very long time, maybe indefinitely. But undeniably, it is your choice. As much as we'd like to blame others, or become a victim, we chose elements that put us in nearly every situation. I say nearly, because life always loves a curveball from time to time. One way or another, it is what makes life interesting and unpredictable. How we choose to respond to those situations is again, our choice.
I have heard an analogy that is very good about making life decisions. It involves an airplane flying from London to New York. Because of wind, airplanes never fly straight. They are constantly making tiny corrections to direction to get where they want to go. That plane that takes off from London, being just one degree off continuously, will end up in Venezuela in South America. That is very far from New York.
What about your life? Do you know where you want to go? Are you asleep at the wheel or just uninterested? Or, do you want your life to be carefree and driven by the wind? Maybe you will love Venezuela and hate New York.
All of these questions provide insight into why the human race (very appropriate) is so diverse, so different. That is why we have spectrums of personality, of goals, of behaviors, of ambition, of meaning. You have heard the cliche "variety is the spice of life". Variety is life. No one is the same as another, but we all share common traits. Talk about paradoxes.
Are you going to New York or are you driven by the wind?
Choices. They are such a double edged sword that cuts both ways. They can slay your enemy or cause a mortal wound to yourself.
Be careful. It's your life and you only have one.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever. Psalm 23 (NIV)
If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com
