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The second half of your life? ...
Friday, Mar 21, 2014. Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a friend about “the secnd half of our life”. The question was: what is it that I want to do in the second part of my life. What is it that makes you happy? What is it that gives you purpose and fulfilment?
Second half? …
After thinking a little bit about our conversation, one thing which struck me is that we do not know whether we are in the second half of our life or not. It could well be that we are close to the end. It could be that we are dead tomorrow. It could be that we have to live for another year or two. But of course it could also be 50 years ahead of us, or 30 years. It is not given to us to know the day and hour of our death!
So when we talk about what fills our life, it should be something which fills us independently of how long we will have to live. It should be something which gives purpose to one day, to each day, day by day!
Our conversation yesterday took place over a coffee. And my friend had many very good ideas and suggestions about what will contribute to making you happy. Giving each other appreciation in the little things might be one of those measures. Just say something like: you do that well, or: you are gifted in this. It could also be something like: you look great. Or: nice skirt. Or: I like your style. Or: I appreciate the work you put into this.
Purpose …
We also talked about prayer, with respect to purpose. It is good to give appreciation to each other, but your life should not depend on the appreciation you get from others. Your life should not depend on your achievements alone, or on your smile alone, or on your beauty alone. It should not depend on any of these!! There are much better things, much deeper things, and much longer lasting things …
We can come to God in prayer. We can come not to ask for something special, not to pray for our needs or for the needs of the people around us. All these types of prayer are good. But they are not yet bringing us to the core of the Lord. They are not yet bringing his purpose into our life. We need to come to him without purpose, without particular tasks, without something we want or need. We need to come to him just to meet him, to get to know him, to be with him. I talk about a prayer where you just move into the presence of the Lord, and be with him without a particular activity.
The Lord is purpose by himself. He rests in himself. He does not need to perform, to be someone. He does not need to be needed. He is the Lord. He is purpose just as he is. He is joy. He is rest. He is as young as a newborn baby, as fresh as the early morning, as powerful as the spring, as mature as harvest time and late summer. He is all this, and when we come to him in prayer, not bringing our needs, but just bringing us, we can experience a type of purpose which exceeds all those little steps which we can do in our human environment. HE IS. And we are asked to come to him and enter his peace and find his purpose for our life! Wow … (Roland Potthast) ... more texts