Time, Purpose and Potential

If you’re new to Life Compass, on Sundays I write on Spirituality, Faith and Ethics. Here’s why.

Something interesting happens when you know you’re dying.

Suddenly, some things that you thought were very important, are now totally unimportant.  And you have incredible clarity about what things truly are most important to you.

These are some reflections I had on Saturday, after visiting a friend from my church who had just moved to a hospice care home.

She has cancer, and there’s nothing more the doctors can do for her except to make her as comfortable as possible as she prepares to pass from this life to the next.

She is probably just a few years older than me, and has two teenage sons, whom she will soon leave behind.  This was very sobering for me, as the father of five children ages 4-13.  One day, my time will be up too.

During my visit, I read from Psalm 139, which beautifully expresses God’s watchful eye over us, his design and plan for our lives before we were even born, and his control over the number of our days.  “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be,” the psalmist David said in verse 16.

This psalm – all 24 verses, prompted a few thoughts in my mind:

  • God has given each of us a certain amount of time on this earth.  It’s up to us to decide how we’re going to use it.
  • God has given each of us a certain amount of potential.  It’s up to us to discover and maximize it.
  • God has put each person here on earth for a purpose.  It’s up to us to find it and live it.

Are you making the most of your life?  Are you living to you full potential?  Are you having the maximum impact you could be having…in your family, relationships, work, community?

If not, what do you think is holding you back?  And what one or two steps can you take today to help move you in the right direction?  Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Comments

  1. This is an important reflection. Time passes quickly, and we can’t slow it down but we can make the most of it.

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