Things we are
I had a good birthday celebration this week. We celebrated a week early due to everyone’s schedules, but it was really good. The family and extended family gathered to spend the afternoon with me.
It wasn’t the things I received. In fact, when I was asked for a list of things I wanted, I had a hard time coming up with a good list. They kept asking me to come up with a list that wasn’t so lame! As I grow older, things just do not hold the same kind of joy and pleasure that they once might have. After all, they are just things. I will not be taking any of them with me when I leave this earth.
No, the pleasure of my birthday was the people who were there to celebrate me and who did so many things to express their love for me. Oh sure, there were great and pricey gifts, but they spent time planning it, getting great food and decorations, a fabulous cake, and just savoring doing good things in anticipation of my party. They spent time making sure that everything was really perfect for this 70th birthday.
I watched a video montage from people around the world. These were family, friends, and former students of mine who had taken time to reflect on the time they had spent with me. The words expressed in this video reminded me that our significance in life does not come from things or accomplishments. It comes from the impact we have made on the people we come across. They are impacted by the ordinary things we do for them, the casual words we say not realizing they are profound in their effect, and the actions that others watch without our even knowing. All of this whether good or bad.
It was really rewarding to watch and listen to all the glowing things said, many of which I could scarcely believe about myself. It was also deeply humbling and sobering as I thought about the fact that all too often I have said or done things with little thought to the impact that they would have on the people in my life.
Be careful of casual words. Be deliberate to avoid thoughtless actions. You just do not know how a life will be affected by those words and things you do. It is a sobering thought to realize that who you are is not what you achieve, the degrees you earn, the money and things you gather. It is about your deep character that is revealed to others in ways that we do not even pay attention to and that are often only glimpses into who we truly are.
Thank you, family and friends for what you gave me last Saturday. Yes, thank you for my gifts, but thank you most of all for giving yourselves to me. And thank you for all the kind words that were said about my impact on your lives. I had no idea that the footprints I have left did so much good. Your words seemed to paint me better than I am or have been. But thank you. I accept them, I trust graciously.
