April 18, 2008

• What is the underlying theme of your life? What is your guiding purpose? What motivates you?
  If
  you had to really boil it down, what do you think God put you here on
  this earth to do? What are you supposed to be doing with the talents
  and gifts that you have? What is your life’s passion?
  I
  don't think about these things very often. Most of the time I just kind
  of float along, from one task to the next. Write a story, wash some
  clothes, vacuum the floor, check my e-mail, wash some dishes...and
  before I know it, another day is gone.
  It helps me to stay
  on course when I stop to re-evaluate what I'm really supposed to be
  doing with the hours and days and weeks and years I have left.
  I
  read something the other day that really made me stop and think. It
  compared the normal human lifespan of 70 years to the hours in a day
  that we're normally awake, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and if your life
  were that span of hours, where you are on the clock at your age now. At
  my age, 52, I have reached the time of about 7 p.m. in my life. Wow! I
  don't have too much time left until 11 p.m. gets here — and that's if I
  live to be 70. It makes it seem pretty important to be sure that I'm on
  course for the rest of the "evening" of my life.
  When I'd
  take a turn at the tiller of Daddy's sailboat, there would be a point
  on the shore that I'd aim at, and keep the bow pointed in that
  direction to stay on course.
  What am I aiming at?
  Well, Heaven, of course, is my ultimate goal.
  But what am I trying to accomplish while I'm still here?
  What I long to do, what I think I'm supposed to be doing, very simply — is loving.
  When
  I was in high school, we used to sing a song at guitar Mass that
  condenses it quite well: "And they'll know we are Christians by our
  love..."
  Would someone who didn’t know me, but just
  observed my actions and listened to my speech and read the words I
  wrote, be able to tell that I’m a Christian?
  Do my words
  and actions help comfort and heal, do they bring light and joy, or do
  they dampen the spirits and discourage or even hurt those around me?
  I fail miserably much of the time. I often criticize and find fault and act selfish and self-absorbed instead of loving.
  All
  can do is try to correct my course, get my bow pointed in the right
  direction, and keep on sailing. The Wind that fills those sails is
  quite dependable, if I can keep my boat on course.
  I've
  been looking think back over my years as a teacher a lot lately, in
  light of the recent death of one of my best-loved students. There have
  been some times when I’ve had the great privilege of knowing that I had
  some kind of positive impact on a kid's life. There's not much in this
  world that gives me more joy, validates my being here, than being told
  that my life has meant something good in somebody else's life. Now, as
  a writer, if a person tells me that something I wrote encouraged them
  or lifted their spirits or brightened their life, I am happy. I feel
  like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
  I think I'm
  supposed to be showing people what Love looks like. I think I'm
  supposed to let God's love shine out of me to other people. To be a
  conduit for His Love — whether it is as a teacher, or as a mother, or
  as a wife, or as a friend, or as a writer, or as a co-worker.
  I
  need to ask myself often if anyone could look at me in my daily life
  and say, "Oh, that woman must be a Christian. I can tell she is by how
  much love (kindness, patience, helpfulness, compassion, empathy, good
  humor, joy) she shows to everyone she comes into contact with."
  Oh,
  I quite often fail miserably. Sometimes, instead of letting God's love
  shine out of me, l let grouchiness or self-pity or sarcasm or fear or
  anxiety or lots of other negative things seep out instead. If someone
  interrupts my train of thought while I'm trying to write at work, I'm
  liable to show impatience instead of patience. If I have to do
  something on a weekend for somebody else that's not exactly what I
  would choose to do with my spare time, I'm liable to show resentment
  instead of kindness.
  You know how the old lighthouse
  keepers had to polish the glass so the bright light could shine from
  the tower out to the ships on the dark, stormy sea? I think my job is
  to polish my own personal glass so the Light can shine through — and
  maybe even help light someone else’s way.
  What it all
  boils down to is — what will matter in the long run in my life? Looking
  back from my deathbed, what will I be glad that I did? What do I want
  to be remembered for? What kind of legacy do I want to leave for my
  children? And most important of all, what will I be able to take with
  me when I go?

  By Celia DeWoody
  Copyright 2008 Harrison (Ark.) Daily Times
  April 16, 2008
  
  

  

  
  

  • 7:03 pm
  • 4 Comments