Meaning of Life

Meaning of Life, Scott's thoughts

(I share this thought in hopes it may encourage someone)

I have always been a thinker.

I have contemplated the meaning of life since I was a small child. It is a question I still contemplate.

The more troubling and immediate form of the question is "does my life have meaning today?"

My current circumstances give me an entirely different perspective than previously when I was a busy bee. I do not have a job. I do not work. I have no responsibility with any organization. I do not interact with many people. My health is poor. I seldom feel good. I seldom feel up to going to church. My children are grown with busy lives of their own. I have to miss a lot of family gatherings.  I have large segments of time to reflect, meditate, think, and pray.

And yet, the answer to the question "does my life have meaning?" is yes and yes. Yes, my life has meaning today because some people take comfort in my existence. They feel they need me or at least would miss me. More convincingly I feel the loss of my brother and my father and many others. I perceive each death as a giant hole in my existence. I know others would feel the same sense of loss at my passing.

And the answer is yes because I am closer to meeting my maker in the same sense as you the reader   are, that is, I am older than ever before. There are aspects of me that need to change this side of heaven. Like Jesus said to Thomas, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29 There are certain blessings that can only be obtained on this side of death. Though Thomas had the blessing of seeing the resurrected Jesus, he lost the greater blessing of believing Christ rose by faith alone.

What blessings can you not attain in heaven? You can not be joyful in the face of pain in heaven. In heaven there is no pain. You can not trust God's goodness in the face of evil in heaven. In heaven there is no evil.

In summary I know my life has meaning today because there are those who care about me and because life itself gives me the opportunity to grow and to change and to be merciful and to forgive my enemies and to appreciate each breath.