Turning 50 is a good time to pause and contemplate where your life has been and where it’s going. I’ve decided that there are three important things to do in life… live, love, and leave a mark.
Live… I’m pretty sure life is supposed to be fun. We should enjoy every day. We should relish breathing in the aromas of the season (salt air and varied flowers, crisp apples and drying leaves, fresh evergreen branches and baking cookies, newly turned earth and cut grass…). We should laugh together and play games. We should go to the movies, listen to music, follow our favorite TV shows (or not 🙂 ), watch the ballet. We should enjoy the feeling of the sun on our faces and the sound of the rain on the roof. We should read – read while sitting on a beach, read in front of a fire, read perched on a window seat, read while surfing cyberspace. Andy always says, “live life to the fullest” – and that’s not a bad motto.
Love… “Love one another” is the one commandment Jesus gave us. It’s also what our parents taught us. Love is all about cherishing family and friends and sharing time with one another – the special time and the day-to-day times. Love is all about being there whenever you’re needed. Love is all about playing together and pulling together. Love is also about reaching out to those in need – sharing the gifts you’ve been given with strangers who have less. Love is about worshiping the God who gave us those gifts.
Leave a mark… Isn’t it important, as well, for us to leave the world a better place than we found it in some way? Maybe we’re raising the next generation, or maybe we’re contributing to the success of our workplaces, civic organizations, or church groups. I myself hope that maybe I can influence our approach to supporting learning and development in organizations through my teaching and writing. Borrowing a catch phrase of the times, we should “do something!”
When Daddy died, I came across this song lyric by Jimmy Webb, and I think it says something profound.
All we need is one life
To make a difference here.
One life, it’s such a small amount,
One life, to say we care so loud and clear.
We have to make it count, after all,
With only one life…
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