The average life expectancy for Americans is 78.7 years, based on research from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Consider the fact that if a person is currently 30 years old, he/she has approximately 17,776 days and 437,000 hours remaining before time runs out!
What will you see as you approach the last days of your life as you take the time to reflect back on your journey? Will it be a picture of someone who made a difference in the lives of his/her family and others, or will it be someone who achieved a great deal of notoriety and accumulated material comforts but is approaching the end of the journey with broken relationships, many regrets and very little joy and fulfillment? Each person has a God given purpose. It’s important that we each stop and consider what it will be for us. It’s imperative that we gain clarity around the picture that we would like to see at the end. After clarifying the picture, the process of consciously painting it should start today.
As we all know, each minute, hour, day and year are precious, despite the fact that it’s easy to take time and relationships for granted. To live a full and meaningful life, we should be intentional and take the time to prayerfully consider and visualize the end of life.
The process of “painting the picture” should begin with understanding purpose, vision and mission. One exercise that you can use to do this is to determine the roles that you play in all areas of your life and with whom. Follow this by determining what you’d like for those you love, lead and serve to say about you at the end of your life? Are you currently living your life in a way that they’d say what you envision? If not, don’t lose heart or get discouraged. Determine what needs to change and begin the process of intentionally making the changes.
The minutes, hours, days and years pass quickly. In our busy culture, we can become oblivious to this fact. It’s nice to occasionally review material such as the poem written by Linda Ellis titled, “The Dash.” If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to take the time to Google it. It will be worth the few minutes that you’ll invest in finding and reading it. It could prove helpful as you begin the process of visualizing the end and developing a strategic focus for the remainder of life.
If you are interested in discussing this topic or collaborating, feel free to reach out to us at Right Path Enterprises. We would welcome the conversation.
