12-5-21 Real Meaning of Life
Quote: “The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has started to understand the meaning of life.”
Being in education, I have a soft spot for this generation of young people. On the hardest of days, I try to visualize the future – seeing them as moms, dads, doctors, construction workers, college students, police officers, flight attendants, and football players. It helps me remember that the future world changers are sitting right in front of me! It helps give purpose to teaching when they roll their eyes about finding the area of a 3-dimensional shape, locating the similes and metaphors in a poem, or learning about westward expansion. These kiddos are learning stamina – how to work hard at something and achieve their dreams. These lessons will build on each other the rest of their lives, long after I’ve retired.
I love this quote because it reminds us that life is not just about the present. True living is also thinking about the future. It’s not just living in the moment – it’s also thinking ahead. What can I do now that will allow future generations to be successful? What laws can be passed, which people can be elected, which organizations can be created, which plans can be put in motion, and what can we set up now for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to have in generations to come?
It’s forward thinking.
This quote also reminds me of the story of Moses from the Bible. The Israelites were an oppressed and poor and marginalized people. God picked a simple man named Moses and appointed him to be the one to lead the people from a land of slavery to the promised land – to a land full of rich resources and safety. God gave Moses instructions to gather the people near a mountain and give them 10 commandments so that they would have rules and order as they traveled. 40 years pass by. Generations of people pass away, new generations of children are born, and through the whole journey, God never left their side in the desert. God protected them and fed them and met all their needs. They were a tough crowd though, constantly complaining and losing their faith. Moses must have had a heck of a time keeping them all sane! Moses was not perfect and made many mistakes along the way, but he never gave up on them.
So it comes as quite a shock that after all they had went through together, Moses never actually makes it to the Promised Land with them. When Moses was very old, God took him up to a mountain to view the land of Canaan, the land he had promised to the Israelites. What a beautiful sight that would have been! God says to Moses in Deuteronomy 32:52, “Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”
What a humbling moment this must have been for Moses. He would be the one that had started the journey… but someone else would be finishing it. God had saved the special moment when the Israelites would take their first step onto their new land for Moses’ successor Joshua.
Isn’t that what we should all be doing right now? Giving our children and grandchildren a glimpse of the great things to come if we work hard at it today? A future that is much brighter than what ours is right now? To want nothing more than to leave a legacy for generations to come that we are proud of? I often think about what I want to leave behind for my kids and grandkids and it has nothing to do with money or stuff. It’s about character and integrity. It’s about serving others. It’s about looking past what we can get out of life and more about what we can do for others.
The true meaning of life is leaving the earth a better place than when we entered it.
It’s about breaking generational curses and setting our families up for generational blessings. It’s about making changes and showing the present generation how to agree to disagree, how to fight against injustices, and how to look ahead to the future when making decisions for today.
It’s knowing you may never see the benefit of what you are doing now… and doing it anyway.
