It is so obvious that we only get one chance to live this life. This is often used as the motivator to go get all you can and enjoy everything you've ever wanted to try, because "it's your life." As I age I see ever so vividly the vanity of living for one's self exclusively. No matter the level of "success," if it is centered on yourself it will end in empty disappointment. If you don't believe me, consider the lives of people like Michael Jackson, Madalyn Murry O'Hair, OJ Simpson, Madonna, Mike Tyson, Brittany Spears etc... They've spent their lives in pursuit of self which has led to utter vanity in each case. It seems to reflect what I read in Proverbs 22: 8 the other day, "He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow."
This is not the case for those who've choosen to live in a way that will positively impact others. I think of many Biblical stories of men and women. I also think of R.G. LeTourneau, Ron Blue, Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Mother Teresa, George Muller, Rick Warren, Ronald Regan, Truett Cathy and many others. The stories of their lives have a very different flavor that those listed in the previous paragraph. Why? I believe it is because they chose to follow a wisdom that is not of this world. They've chosen to place others above themselves and spent their lives following the call God placed on their lives, whether that call be selling chicken sandwiches, inventing earth moving equipment, serving orphans or even as a politician. It seems to me that is a mirror of what we see in the life of Jesus Christ. He constantly placed himself below the people around him and served them from a Spiritual perspective, encouraging them to grow in their own Spiritual vision for their lives.
I would sum it up by saying, life is to short to not impact others! Live your life forgetting about yourself and placing others above yourself, all the while keeping the Spiritual perspective of Whom you really serve.
