Many driven and anxious people with highly ambitious and often unrealistic goals, constantly strive to be better and more successful than others. To me this is a classic sign of dysfunction in one’s personal life. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of competition, trying to outdo another person because that will make you feel better, more powerful, more dominant, more talented than others. Our society is littered with the lost hopes and dreams of average people trying to be or achieve something they could not, despite all the self-help quacks and gurus explaining how easy it is to attain your wildest dreams. Many factors other than sheer ambition and drive are involved in success: luck, fate, timing, geographic location, social class, level of education, genetics, and aptitude and talent.
A very introspective and powerful reflection. You are indeed one of the rare people who doesn’t try to push to their absolute limits to achieve the mythical goal of unending power and fame. This piece challenged me it has inspired me to think differently about my own goals. And about what is truly important.
I was just reflecting today how, as humans, we so often make ourselves anxious and waste money, time, and the very years of our lives attempting to acquire more money, time, and years. We are obsessed with getting as much as we can in this life and making this life last as long as possible.
But only God knows the number of our days, and only the life lived in accordance with His purposes and will ultimately has any lasting value. All else is, as Solomon wrote, vanity and vexation of spirit (or chasing the wind, depending on the Bible translation you use). But therein is also comfort, for Christ promised life that extends through eternity, a life in which we will be whole and unfettered from the shackles of sin and the physical decay of earthly aging.
What we do with this life is important. But it struck me recently that it’s just the beginning of something much larger and grander.
On that note, I wonder if there will be books in heaven…?
A very introspective and powerful reflection. You are indeed one of the rare people who doesn’t try to push to their absolute limits to achieve the mythical goal of unending power and fame. This piece challenged me it has inspired me to think differently about my own goals. And about what is truly important.
I was just reflecting today how, as humans, we so often make ourselves anxious and waste money, time, and the very years of our lives attempting to acquire more money, time, and years. We are obsessed with getting as much as we can in this life and making this life last as long as possible.
But only God knows the number of our days, and only the life lived in accordance with His purposes and will ultimately has any lasting value. All else is, as Solomon wrote, vanity and vexation of spirit (or chasing the wind, depending on the Bible translation you use). But therein is also comfort, for Christ promised life that extends through eternity, a life in which we will be whole and unfettered from the shackles of sin and the physical decay of earthly aging.
What we do with this life is important. But it struck me recently that it’s just the beginning of something much larger and grander.
On that note, I wonder if there will be books in heaven…?