What Matters Most

Normally I don't like to take life too seriously- it's just too short. I tend to deal with things using humor and dry sarcasm and I am usually pretty lighthearted in conversation. But, last night I was watching the Idol Gives Back show (which was great, I thought) and it was such a jolt of reality. I am not the type to get emotional or cry at movies or anything like that, but that show was just really touching and it made me think about what I do and what our purpose is in the brief time that we are here on this Earth. I have seen shows like that before and it is always shocking to see that people live the way some of them do. We sit here in our crystal palaces and we play armchair judge while we watch these people on our big screen plasma HD TV's. We get upset when Starbuck's doesn't have our favorite flavor anymore and these people have to worry about where their next meal is coming from or who in their family is not going to make it to the next day or week. We are so spoiled and so blessed and we just whine and complain so much. These people would probably do anything to have the type of problems we have and we take it for granted. The grandmother on the show last night who lost all 4 of her children to AIDS and was left with all 8 grandchildren to take care of. She has to dig graves and do whatever odd jobs she can just so they can survive. I cannot imagine it. My husband and I have been blessed- we have more than we will ever need. We do help out others when the need is presented to us, and we enjoy doing things like that. We could always do more. I thought about what really matters in life. I think that when we are gone from here, the only thing that will matter at all is what we did for others while we were here. What kind of impact did we make? Did we make a positive difference in anyone's life? God calls us to love one another- that means everyone. As Mother Teresa once said "Love, to be real, must cost- it must hurt- it must empty us of self." We are about to build a nice home and we have to rebuild a lakehome, too. I think it is ok to have nice things, but are we doing anything for anyone besides ourselves? If I were in the position of some of those people, I would sure hope someone cared enough to help. I hope that we can all realize how truly blessed we are- to have people who love us, to have children who are with us, to have decent homes and cars and food at our fingertips at all times. I hope that when we teach our children to share with others that we are leading by example in that lesson. I am such a fixer. I am a person who wants to help everyone and who wants to take care of all the orphans and the stray animals and such. After watching that show last night, I couldn't even fall asleep for a long time, seeing the faces of all the children with no-one to take care of them in my mind. 13 million orphans in Africa alone. My hope is that all of us are doing something- blessings are meant to be shared.