What Really Matters?

We all aspire to spend our life doing something worthwhile, to live in a manner that makes a difference to others, to sufficiently provide for the needs of our families, save enough for our sunset years and then when the time comes, cross the finish line triumphantly.

The key to attaining this precarious balance is in reality a choice between cluttering and complicating our lives with a sophisticated life style or simplifying and invigorating it by living soberly. In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.

For those who are industrious and have sufficient foresight, the real challenge is not in the lack of good things but the insatiable appetite to hoard more than we need, to consume hysterically rather than build intrinsic personal character, to be driven by insecurity instead of being motivated by love and worse of all, to equate the invaluable worth of human lives with perishable material riches.

True joy is not the absence of difficulties but the ability to deal with them without being vehemently shaken by them. The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love, to feel, to think and to be greater than our suffering.

At 41, I am living contently, graciously blessed by the sovereign rule of a mighty God, a loving home with two energetic adolescents, a challenging career and an incredibly rich web of human relations, nurtured with care over the years, which is undoubtedly, my greatest asset, priceless beyond any measure!

So in life, "What really matters?"   

When I reflect on all the bygone years, to investigate this simple question, I am confronted with the pleasant truth that the most important things in life are not things. They are people, people and only people...

• affable childhood memories of my loving mother who single handedly labored hard to put food on the table and provided the best she could...
• caring sisters, though often times we fought ferociously like cats
• real friends I spent my formative years with, exploring the world whilst indulging in its simple pleasures like going for movies, picnics, parties and the endless hours spent sharing our dreams & failures, our hopes & disappointments, our triumphs & fears...
• my first love when I was just 15, to whom I did not express my heart's feelings ever, a silent admirer so to speak though I still remember her as vividly as the freshness of morning dew...
• many talented colleagues I worked with, each with unique gifts and talents which they applied wisely to gain economic benefits and realise their full potential
• mentors whose help I sought in times of need, drawing from their immense wealth of experience and wisdom
• the special woman who impressed me with her simplicity, benevolence and profound character...the one I later proposed on a pleasant winter morning, of all places on a railway station...fortunately she said, "yes" and life took a very interesting twist
• my two children, who are my joy and life's pride and the 
• innumerable people from our church, family and larger community who have touched my life with the warmth of their love and sweet affection

Beyond people, ultimately, what really matters to me, is the hope of eternal life I  have in Christ Jesus, the Author of life and Perfecter of my faith...everything else seems to dim beyond recognition in the light of His magnificent glory.  

Unfortunately, many of us invariably equate success with riches and wealth but in reality, you don't actually need a lot of money to be a man or woman of genuine character and true greatness.

In closing, irrespective of our education, work and social status, real success requires having the courage, the determination and the will to become the person, God has destined for us to be. Let not trivial ambitions of simply becoming rich and famous distract us from our life's true calling. Accidentally, if we do become one, then may our riches only be a channel of blessing to others but never an end in itself. 

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to leave the world a better place... to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."