Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday October 29, 2009

I read an essay by Matt Van Horn who is studying writing and in his piece he noted the life of a man he studied and wrote about in class. He summed up the man briefly by stating "His efforts were noble and courageous though canceled by stubborn pride."

The same could be said of many, but the most tragic statement by my friend was this:

"The outcome of his thinking was nonproductive, his dying accomplishing nothing other than sorrow for a good life wasted."

The last few days I have been moved toward writing on the effort needed to live a meaningful life. I even dug out some old daily letters and am in the process of resurrecting my book, "Things That Matter Most" which I will focus on over the nightmare time from Thanksgiving through New Years.

Many advisors attempt, in vain, to convince us that as long as life is lived passionately we are not living in vain. One question: What about the rapist? Or a very long list of passionately lived though obviously wasted lives?

The late Earl Nightingale wrote of Caper Milquetoast folks as "attempting to tip toe safely to the grave." A life of playing it safe is about exciting as unflavored margarine while the other side of the coin of passionately living may be equally empty in the long run.

Life is our gift from God via natural process and in this life we have three primary things to use: time, talent and treasure. We are all equal in the amount time we each are allotted; therefore learning to use our time wisely is the first priority in avoiding what Matt called, "sorrow for a good life wasted."

A song that I have used for years has a line stating, "Bye and Bye when I look on His face I'll wish I had given Him more. More, yes more, more of my life than I ere gave before." In life choices include those that tend to now or to eternity. Which do you think at the end of day will matter most? For instance, "Who was sportsman of the year when Abram left Ur of the Chaldeans?" We don’t really know anything about Abraham in the land of UR, he may have led the league in home runs, or had a bowling average through the roof, but his life took on true fulfillment when obeyed the Lord and stepped out into eternal history. He rejoiced in a good life used profitably for things that matter.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2009 Use with credit

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