The above question was asked just recently in a discussion group I was part of, and everyone present felt very challenged by it. Why? you may ask, What does it even mean? It’s all about your life, or to be precise, your lifespan. You know how in an obituary, or on a gravestone, the number of years of a person’s life is written down like this, for example, Harriet Smith 1945 — 2015. The actual years are represented by that —. It’s strange, isn’t it, your whole life represented by a dash, and only you can decide what you will do it.
I’m more than half-way through my dash, that is, I’ve used up more years than I’ve got ahead. I hope that doesn’t sound miserable, because actually I feel really good about the years I’ve got left. The reason? I know what my priorities are, and I’m aiming to focus my remaining time on these things, on what really matters to me.
So what are my priorities? Here’s a big one – to focus on eternal things – that’s why I work for the Church – I seriously believe that human beings live on after this brief earthly life is over, and we need to know we have a place with God after we die, (we don’t get it automatically, it’s a matter of choice and will) and that the life beyond this life is much more wonderful than what we experience here. Does that sound weird? It’s actually mainstream Christianity but it doesn’t always get expressed as bluntly as that. So I spend time sharing that truth, that we can only have the life we were designed for if we are fully connected to God through Jesus.
Another priority – to focus on people who are marginalised, left out, not given a fair chance. How fantastic that we have the chance to radically alter the path of a person’s life by giving them a chance to develop their potential. I’ve just signed an agreement to sponsor a little girl called Katteryn – she’s 8 years old and lives thousands of miles away in Guatemala in a hut with a dirt floor and tin roof, and lives with an aunt so probably doesn’t have parents. The area she lives in is very poor indeed. Dave and I have decided we will learn to speak Spanish so that we’ll be able to go and visit her to show we care about her. Isn’t that exciting? I didn’t even know where Guatemala was - I had to look it up on a map- but now I know there’s a young girl there whose life is going to be better because our lives are linked together. One day we’ll give each other a hug and introduce ourselves properly.
Life can be so exciting – what are you doing with your “dash”?
Veronica