You Only Live...

            Now that my kids are teenagers, I think have officially reached the “not cool” zone. I kind of thought it wouldn’t happen to me. I think I am pretty funny most of the time and since I had a sister 10 years younger than me, she kept me up to date on a lot of things, but now I am finding out there is a lot of things I just am not cool about anymore. One thing I have found is that there is a new vocabulary that I have never heard of, and if I have heard of it- I am not supposed to use it. For instance recently I had heard that two people were referred to as a ship. I knew people could go on a ship, but didn’t realize they could be a ship. I found out that if two people are a ship it means they are in a relationship with each other- which I guess makes sense.

            Sometimes the new phrases are fun, but there is one word in particular that I am not a huge fan of or at least not the way it is used, and that is YOLO- you only live once. Really it could be a good reminder, but people today often use it as an excuse to live anyway they want and do anything they want because after all, you only live once so you may as well live it up. In my generation, I think the phrase was if it feels good do it. Don’t worry about anyone else; don’t think about the consequences, just have as much “fun” as you can. I guess if life is just about today and just about ourselves then why not live life looking for the next thrill, but the problem is that a thrill is only for a moment and then you need a new and bigger thrill to give you the same feeling you got before.

            I think that when you look at life with this perspective of you only live once, you lose focus of what life is all about. You see, you are only born once and you only die once, but you live every day. Each day is still part of the same life, but each day you wake up and you have a choice about how you are going to live the life you have been given. So you may only live once, but you get to choose if that life counts for anything. At the end of your life, you can have had thrills beyond measure; you can have partied and chased after fun all of your life, but when you die is that really going to mean anything?

            I have recently been reading in the book of Acts, and it is partially what got me started thinking about this. In Acts 9:36-43 we run across a story of a woman named Tabitha (or Dorcas in Greek). We are told that Tabitha was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. She lived her life in a way that she was not seeking what she could get out of life, but what she could give to others in this life. Then it tells us that she died and people sent for Peter to come as soon as possible. When Peter got there, many other people were there and began to tell Peter about all of the wonderful things that she had done for people. As the story goes on, Peter prays for her and she was raised up.  I was struck by this woman who was such a blessing to so many people that they would care enough to call for Peter. It doesn’t say it was her family that was mourning her, but the people to whom she had been kind to. What a legacy. She left people better than she found them. If she had lived a life of selfish desire, living each day to see what she could get instead of what she could give; her story would have no appeal. She would have been a person of no consequence. I don’t believe for a moment that she was an unhappy woman or a lonely woman. I believe she was a very contented woman filled with a joy that many of us will only dream of. Why? Because she loved so thoroughly that she left a legacy of love to the people around her. She also gave coats and clothes that she had made and that was a legacy too, but people would not have cared that she was gone if they had not felt loved by her.

            Our world is filled with people who are unfulfilled, searching for happiness anywhere and everywhere, doing crazy things and thinking that it brings happiness. We look at other people and think if I could just be like them I would be happy. If I were prettier, richer, or more famous- then I would be happy. People try and fill that hole inside them with so many things that can never bring fulfillment. If those things brought happinesss, then the news wouldn’t be filled with beautiful stars that have died from drug overdoses. We wouldn’t have people going through painful divorces and jumping into marriage after marriage looking for someone to make them happy. We live in a world filled with people living life trying to see only what they can get out of it, and not considering what they can put into it. How sad would it be to come to the end of life and realize that you didn’t leave anyone truly better than you found them?

            Tabitha lived her life fully and lived her life well and I believe she realized that you live not just once, but you live every day. When you live the yolo kind of life just seeking the next thrill, it can bring consequences you never expect because no, you don’t only live this day, you have to live the next day and the next with the consequences from yesterday. What kind of legacy will you leave when you are gone? Will your legacy be one of leaving people better? When you are gone will people be able to remember you as someone who improved their life, someone that people realize the world is just a little less without you in it? Or will you be the person that people are sad for you that your life is gone, but really it won’t affect their life much at all? If you have lived your life in a selfish way- only looking for your own pleasure, is it too late? No, because another beauty of living each day is that you get to wake up every morning and decide to live better, stronger, healthier, and more full of love for others than you did the day before. What sort of legacy will you leave?