Wednesday, March 28, 2012

1979 - ?: Live for the Dash

Last Sunday, a topic was presented in our class at church that really made me think. I guess that's one of the things you expect out of church, huh?

We were told to take out a piece of paper, and write down the year we were born. Now, none of us can really do anything about when or where we were born, who our parents are, what situation we were born into or really anything else about that first number.

Next, we were told to write a "-" followed by a question mark. We didn't actually do the exercise (time constraints), but mine would have looked like this:

1979 - ?

We have a little more influence over the number that will eventually replace the question mark, but it's still largely out of our hands. Sure, we can try to be as healthy as possible (and I highly recommend practicing healthy habits), but there are too many variables to accurately predict that number. Not that we'd really want to know though.

So that brings me to the "-" in between those two numbers. Regardless of the years that end up on all of our tombstones, we will all have that dash. What will yours represent? Every day we make choices that define our lives. Can we look back and say we made decisions that were in line with our beliefs, goals, wants and needs?

Every choice you make brings you closer or farther away from the person you want to be. Make them wisely. We never know how much time we have until the mystery of the second number on our stones will be revealed, so never waste a day.

The strongest message I got from this lesson was that we shouldn't worry about the numbers on our stones. We shouldn't care how old we are (our birth year) and we shouldn't fret over when we'll leave this earth. We should focus on what we can control. We should concentrate on making that "-" the most meaningful it can be.

Cherish the past, plan for the future but live for today.

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