The last couple of years have been challenging, haven’t they? World events have caused us to pause and wonder what is the point of it all. What is the meaning of life?
Sometimes, life’s deepest questions have the most obvious answers. Maybe it isn’t the answer you’re looking for, but it’s there just the same.
The meaning of life has bugged people for years. A dictionary I picked up says life is, “The property of plants and animals that distinguishes them from inorganic matter.” That helps a lot!
Dictionary.com has four definitions. The fourth one made me pause and think.
4. a corresponding state, existence, or principle of existence conceived of as belonging to the soul: eternal life.
There is something about humans that makes us long for something more than the short span of life we have on this planet. at the very least, we want our lives to mean something after we are gone. We hope that people remember us when we are gone.
Except for one, my great-grandparents were gone by the time I was born. I have hazy memories of one of my great-grandmothers. The rest have lived only in the stories my mother and father told me.
My children know even less of their great-great-grandparents. They were fortunate to know five of their great-grandparents before they passed away. Each generation knows precious little of the one that went before.
We like to believe our descendants would know us a hundred years from now. But will they? What is the meaning of it all? As I get older, Ecclesiastes has a stronger message to me than what I would like. Is it all just meaningless? Do any of us have a true legacy?
The True Meaning of Life
What are we here for? Who will remember us when we are gone? What is our why while we are here on earth? Collecting money and things is meaningless. Going places is meaningless to anyone else unless we help someone along the way.
I’ve discovered life has meaning when you love unselfishly and serve unashamedly. Selfishness just saps the life right out of a person! An act of kindness goes a long way to building a legacy.
Editor’s Note: I originally published this blog on October 6, 2015. I revamped and updated it for timeliness and comprehensiveness.
