What matters most to you? Do you do it? Does it involve other people? Are you living out your values everyday? What would your loved ones write about you today if they had to write your obituary?
I’ve been pondering those questions a lot lately. I want to live passionately and fearlessly. None of us know how long we will have on earth. And life happens whether we want it to or not. We age. Loved ones die. We suffer. We have regrets. We spend too much time trying to please others. We forget our dreams and passions. We stop living life with real meaning. Busyness sucks the life out of us. Do those busy things we do really matter? Are they even necessary?
I’m slowly learning to live out what matters most to me. I want to serve God and others with my unique personality and talents. Sometimes it requires me saying no to others, which is hard. If we had to make a list today of what really matters, I think most of our lists would look similar with relationships being a top priority. And yet our lists would be different too. My list includes solitude, prayer and writing. Yours may not.
One thing that matters most to me is a burning desire to get real. Do you feel that way? I have the desire to share the real me. And to be unashamed doing it. My story is not better or worse than others, but it’s all I have to offer. It’s the real me. The person who still struggles with shame and fear sometimes. The one who cries easily for others–their joy or their pain. The one who can’t be social seven days a week without a meltdown–I need my down time. The one who wants to stop all childhood sexual predators somehow, someway. The one who loves music and nature and tender hearts of my children and my husband. The one who longs to comfort the brokenhearted. The one who aches over those who don’t know the love of God yet.
Are you living out what matters most to you? Are you showing others the “real you”?
I’d love to hear what’s important to you and how you make it a priority in your day.
So exquisitely communicated, Tiffany. Wow. I’d love to see this post be an article somewhere. You are a very effective lens — today and on an ongoing basis –who helps us see what’s most important.
I agree with Gloria, this could be a great article.
I run into many “choice” decisions every day. Hard to keep priorites. But…it is God, husband,family,church and then my writing. I wake up with prayer time and give my day to God for His Glory. Like Choice cuts of steak, I get to choose because God loves me, but not all are good for me. I have learned to ask for His help in everything I do. I also want to be real in my generation. It does require a degree of vulnerability. It is scary, but it is not about me.
I want to pass the baton on to the next generation and introduce them to Jesus.
“It is not how many years we live, but what we do with them. It is not what we receive, but what we give to others.”
Evangeline Booth
I loved what you wrote. I loved how you wrote it.