What’s Truly Important

November 21, 2007 by Matt.

Today we buried a 10 year old girl. It is amazing how that kind of thing makes you rethink what is important. It is so easy to become focused on money, the right career, the right house, the right car or that big LCD TV you just have to have. However, when you watch two friends stand in front of the coffin that contains the body of their 10 year old daughter, you begin to see how meaningless these things are. So, today I rethink what is important in life. For me this means two things: doing kingdom work and taking care of and loving my family.

We often think about how people will remember us. Well, I am sure that nobody will sit at our funeral and talk about that really great house we had, the picture quality on our plasma TV, or how well our car handled. They may reminisce over the meals that were eaten in that house, the football games that were watched on that TV, or the road trips that were taken in that car. And, as clear as these memories will be, they probably will not be able to tell you the square footage of that house, the brand of that TV, or what kind of tires were on that car. The point of this is that what people say about us when we are gone will not be about the things we had, the jobs we held, or how much money we made. People will talk about how we touched their lives. So, what will people say about you?

I fear that over the last couple years I have forgotten, to some extent what is important. I have allowed myself to become focused on career, money, and the THINGS that I have. When I die do I want a bunch of people to talk about the great job I did with the implementation of this computer system or that? NO!! What I want is a long line of people comforting my family with stories of the positive impact I had on their lives. I want my friends and family to exchange stories of the good times that they had with me.

So, as you read this think about where you currently place your priorities.  Think about what is truly important in your life and how much energy you currently spend on this. If you find that the amount of time and energy you invest in something doesn’t match the priority that you feel it should, perhaps now is a good time to change that.

One thing that I know for certain is that I will be taking a good look at what is important and going what needs to be done to make sure that how I spend my time matches what I feel my priorities should be.

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