A LIFE WELL SPENT

I was thinking this morning.... As my  college alumni perfected plans to accompany one of us for the burial of her mother last weekend, I took another glance at the invitation. It's been jokingly said that in Nigeria, the poor and rich announce the death of their loved ones differently. While the poor will write "With heavy hearts and deep sense of sorrow, we regret to announce the death of.....," the rich will say ''With gratitude to God for a life well spent, we heartily announce the transition to glory of....". Hmm!! Class, even in death.

But then, I couldn't but pause to ask "when can one really say a life was well spent?" Is it when a man achieves a great feat or after making a lasting impact on future generations? Some dream on becoming a big bang inventor but end up being a user rather than an inventor of gadgets. Does it mean his or her life was not well spent? Some are writers who aspire to achieve public acclaim but could only impress a small group of friends on Facebook. Does it mean the life was not well spent?

If you were born to be a blessing to others but you spent all your resources living the life of the rich and famous, adorning yourself with jewelries and reveling in choice cuisines without fulfilling purpose, your life was not well spent. If your purpose in life is to influence just one random child positively or to enable your children to be great or support a friend or boss to win, and you achieve that, then your life was well spent. Someone can live to be 100 and the life not well spent and another die at 33 but life well spent. It is not how long but how well.

You don't have to be a renowned scientist like Albert Einstein, an inventor like Steve Jobs, an accomplished writer like Chimamanda Adichie or a great man of God like David Oyedepo for your life to have been well spent. 99.99% of people on earth will not leave a dent on the universe. Someone once said, you do not disapprove of a chair because it cannot be used to boil water. A chair is not designed to boil water, so it is not a problem if it doesn't. Focus on your purpose. If you can achieve your purpose in life, then your life was very well spent. Allow God fulfil His purpose for you (Psalms 57:2).

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey