Daily Worship

What Will Matter

November 10, 2013 0 0

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

This is a poem that I will use during our Remembrance in the next few days.  It reminds us to…Choose life!  That was Joshua’s plea to a pilgrim people.  Jesus offer and promise to us is that we might have life in all its fullness, abundant overflowing.  Choose Life! 

 

What Will Matter  by Michael Josephson

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.  

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.  

All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.

So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.

It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.

Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought but what you built,

not what you got but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched,

empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew,

but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.

What will matter is not your memories but the memories of those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.  Choose to live a life that matters.

Lord God, you are our shepherd.  Lord Jesus, you calmed the storm and brought healing to those broken by life’s struggles. We remember all of those broken by the storms of war, in body, mind or spirit and ask that they find a calm from their storm and a healing in you.  Guide them to green pastures, a place, finally, called home.  Lord God, as life moves on let us not forget those gone before and what they have done.  Help us to choose consciously to live a life that matters, to try and make a difference for the peace of your Kingdom.  Enable us to be good and faithful servants to your truth, working to the fullness of life and of living.  Amen.

 

Padre David Anderson
Chaplain to The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards

Padre David Anderson is currently serving in Kabul on Op Herrick 19.  He has taken a series of well-known verses or passages from across scripture which expose and express our human nature in response to war and our hope for something better, God’s peace.