What Will Matter

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.  All the things you collected, whether treasure or baubles, will pass to someone else. There will be no more surprises, no minutes, hours or days. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel into 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 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 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 people will feel a lasting loss when you are gone.

What will matter is the clarity and care at which you have loved others and have been a positive influence in their lives.

What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in 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 circumstances, but of choice.

Take a minute not to ask God for anything, but to simply say thank you for all you have.

Fr. Chester