There was once an old woman who died when she was 87 years old. She didn’t have any children. She never even got married. As for possessions, she had 3 clothes and one pair of sandals. A peer described her as small and shy. She looked as ordinary as everybody else except that you’d probably recognize her if you read some books and watched documentaries about her life. For all her simplicity, Mother Teresa has helped thousands of people in 45 years over 100 countries around the world giving aid to the sick, the poor, the orphaned, the homeless and the dying.
Did she live a meaningful life? Was she successful in achieving the standards people usually attribute to a happy life?
Let’s look at another life:
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself…
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Twenty long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life. (Adapted from a sermon by Dr James Allan Francis)
The man being referred to is Jesus, the one whom Christians believe is the Son of God. Not everyone may believe Him, many even criticize Him, but His impact upon millions of lives for centuries cannot be denied.
Did he live a meaningful life?
A meaningful life is not the same as a comfortable life. It isn’t even the same as having a peaceful and quiet life.
While many of us may feel worthless, many more people await for the help we could offer them. We may not have much money, but we could have much time. Even if we don’t have much time, we have our thoughts, our words and our many other gifts. Even those already suffering in sickness and can’t get out of their bed has the capacity to pray for those who are suffering more than they are. We don’t even have to help thousands of people. We could help only one person and it would make the very difference between a life well lived and a life that is devoted to none.
Lastly, the meaning of our lives does not depend upon the opinion of other people. It does not depend on what others deem important or valuable, but on what we consider as important from deep within our soul. What is so important to you that you could forego everything else just to pursue it? What would a meaningful life look, sound and feel like to you?
Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours. – Dale Carnegie
“What you are doing I cannot do, what I’m doing you cannot do, but together we are doing something beautiful for God, and this is the greatness of God’s love for us. To give us the opportunity to become holy through the works of love that we do because holiness is not the luxury of the few.” -Mother Teresa
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"