In my younger days, I thought life consisted in:
- The material things I owned such as the latest gadgets
- How I dressed
- What my parents owned and where they lived
- What people thought of me
- What I studied and excelled in
- The kind of employment I engaged in
Unfortunately, these were incorrect measures of what makes life meaningful. The reason they are wrong is that those things are temporary and ever-changing. I mean, for example, this new gadget owned today would be obsolete tomorrow, that fashionable dress today would be unfashionable tomorrow, a failed exam would be excelled tomorrow and not remembered, and so on.
So what makes up life?
What is this life all about?
Allow me to be very simplistic about it in this blog.
I have learnt that meaningful relationships are what make up a meaningful life. What do I mean?
- How do I treat my loving mother? Is it in loving response towards her sacrifice?
- How do I relate to my absent father? Do I demonstrate respect for his efforts?
- Do I prioritize my siblings and treat them with love?
- How do I treat the less fortunate in life? Is it with compassion and empathy?
- Do I engage the older people in my life with respect and the younger ones with careful exemplary attention?
- Do I give quality time to my friends adding value to their lives?
I hope you get my point. What will really count on your deathbed is not the material things you accumulated in life but the persons who will surround your bed and weep because of the great love you showed them. You cared, you showed up, you gave of your time and resources, you smiled, you encouraged, you hugged, you affirmed, and you were present—not just physically, but emotionally, socially and spiritually.
Build meaningful relationships. That’s what matters.
Beyond the human relationship build the most important relationship with God. Know Him. Read His Word. Obey His commands. Talk with Him. Praise Him. Taste and see that God is good. He is good.
Now that’s what life is about!
