The Meaning of Life

 

 Thanksgiving 2015!!

Hey everybody!  I hope you all had a warm and relaxing Thanksgiving with lots of family and FOOD!  Ours was an especially great one.  The weather was so mild, and Phil brought his guitar to play outside by the fire pit.  It was a perfect day with perfect company--I only wish we had more leftovers! ;-)

I had a hunch that my 5 Days of Thanksgiving challenge would last past November 26th, but I think that's okay, because being thankful doesn't come with an expiration date.  In fact, Thanksgiving is one of the only holidays that doesn't feel stale the day after.  The Thanksgiving holiday is a celebration of life, love, family, and God's generous blessing--and why shouldn't ever day feel like a celebration when you have those things?!  So today I'm going to continue with day 4 of the challenge: I'm thankful that there is meaning in life.

First of all--don't ask me what I think is the meaning of life! Mainly because I'll try to make something up and this post could get really long and out of hand.  But also because I believe that each individual BEING (YES, even animals!) have a unique and special purpose on this planet.  Maybe some people only have one single purpose.  Maybe others have many.  But what's huge is that I don't think any of us are ever fully aware of our purpose for living.  I think we do the job we were meant to do and we are probably completely oblivious of the impact that we are having on another soul, and the butterfly effect that will follow into eternity.

One thing that is certain is that our time on earth is fleeting.  For some, this time seems so, so short.  We mourn for these souls the hardest.  Why do some get to live long comfortable lives, while others are cut down before they ever have the chance to bloom?  I'm talking about the innocents--the ones that will never grow up.  The ones that will never have their first kiss, or learn to drive a car.  The ones that will never see the world, or take a job, or get married.  The ones that will never even take a single breath.  We are sad because we miss them, but also because we feel as if they had so much left to do.

Maybe in our grief we are losing sight of an important thought: maybe these souls have already done so much good in the world that they have fulfilled their purpose and can go back to heaven much sooner than anticipated.  We grieve because we miss them, because we never even knew them, but God knows them intimately, and He made them for a reason.  We may never know what the reason is, but if we are thoughtful about it, we can probably imagine how different the world would be if this little soul had never even existed.

Today I am still sad that we lost our little Dino, but I am grateful that we all have a purpose.  You do, I do, and so do the little ones that left us even before their lives began.