Something to live for

I wonder how you would respond if someone asked you what you live for. It can be a confronting question, can’t it? Perhaps our responses would vary according to how honest we were prepared to be and also our level of good health, among other things.

Recently, I talked with someone in their nineties after a meeting where she had tried to inspire others to continue running a group she had begun over twenty years ago. I felt sorry for her because there seemed to be no one to take up the challenge as she wished and I admired her fighting spirit to keep pursuing her goal, despite severe ill-health and old age. But I wondered too why she still cared so much about it all, to the point of worrying day and night.

As we left, I tried to calm her down a little as best I could.

‘Don’t worry,’ I told her. ‘I’m sure it will work out—be at peace.’

She looked doubtful, then responded in a way that made me feel even more sorry for her.

‘Well, I hope it does. I need something to live for.’

Sometime later, I thoughtlessly mentioned this conversation to another person with serious health issues. They did not respond, but I could see the look of understanding in their eyes and glimpsed their own longing to be able to continue contributing to our world in a meaningful way. Again, my heart went out to them—and I wondered how I would feel and respond in a similar situation.

There seems to be an inbuilt desire in many of us to matter in some way to others in life—or to some significant other at least—and also to know there is a purpose to our being here on this earth. Yet there are so many factors around us that we cannot control, aren’t there? In the end, we cannot make people accept and value us or our contribution to society. They may well prefer others and what they offer over who we are and what we can do. It is wonderful when we receive the love and affirmation that we feel we need, but when that is no longer available to us for whatever reason, it is so important to have our own inner resources there that give meaning to life and enable us to push on and continue to have hope.

Surely this is where knowing the love and grace of God and experiencing deep in our hearts how God values and fully accepts each one of us is so important. Others may not understand or value us, but God always will. Others may fail us, but God never will. Our minds and bodies may crumble, but God never changes and will be there forever.

For me, belonging to God makes all the difference. Whatever happens, I know God is with me and has a purpose for my life. The outworking of this purpose may change over time, but I can be at peace, knowing God has my back and is in control.

I hope those two people I spoke with know that for themselves—and I hope you do too.

I have loved you with an everlasting love … Jeremiah 31:3

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5b

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Lost

‘We want to go the long way—we’ll still beat you to the car!’ our two youngest grandkids informed us, as we went to drive them home after a happy day together during the school holidays.  

We thought they meant their usual trick of heading upstairs in our unit block and down again, while we walked the normal way—but this time, they went further afield. And to their dismay and ours, they soon became lost in our big retirement village.

We waited and waited—but no grandkids showed up. I ran around our unit block several times, calling their names. Nothing. I raced up to the village centre. Nothing. I asked others along the way and, while one lady had seen them dash past, there was now no sign of them. My husband drove around looking. Again nothing.

What to do? I stood on a corner, hoping they would see me, and thought of calling the police. But at last, a lady I know came walking towards me, holding Zain and Maxine’s hands. At that point, she seemed like an angel to me!

‘Would you like two grandchildren?’ she asked, as I tried not to burst into tears.

Zain and Maxine looked even more sober and scared when they saw they had upset me. They did their best to explain how they tried to find their way back but had become completely confused, and their rescuer also explained how Zain had been very sensible and asked her nicely where our unit was. But what a fright for them—and us! The next time they were with us, they willingly made thankyou cards and some chocolate brownies for their rescuing angel—and their thanks were indeed heartfelt.

I wonder if you have had a similar heart-in-mouth experience of losing someone or of being lost yourself? Once when travelling in Turkey with a friend, I went to find a bank, while she waited at the bus station. On the way back, I took a wrong turn—and there I was, lost in the middle of Turkey with minimal Turkish at my disposal. To my relief, however, after managing to ask directions in a shop and then having a stern Turkish policeman come to my aid, I was reunited with my friend, just before our bus arrived. Phew!

We can feel so helpless in such situations, can’t we?  But I have discovered that such experiences can also teach us something more about God. By being lost in Turkey, I realised again my deep need of a rescuer, both then and in my life in general. Without God, we truly are lost, without hope and without purpose in life. And by losing our grandchildren, even for only a while, I sensed again God’s deep grief when we lose our way in life or reject God’s offer of rescue and reconciliation. Yet how eagerly our loving Father waits to welcome us home, just as the father in the story in Luke 15 welcomed his lost son home.

Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. Luke 15:23-24.

It is not pleasant to be lost. But it is the most wonderful experience ever when we find our way back into the loving arms of God.

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