MY RADICAL JOURNEY: 40 Days with The Purpose Driven Life

Matter

Day 16: What Matters Most?

What matters most?

Three things. 1. The best use of life is love. 2. The best expression of love is time. 3. The best time to love is now.

I think that pretty sums up Day 16 of this Journey. All of our life's journey actually.

My youngest brother is a real estate appraiser and broker, and many thanks to his encouragement I am now a real estate broker as well. One of the foremost principles in real estate appraisal and even in land development in general is the principle of "highest and best use". A property must be dedicated to its highest and best usage in terms of economic function, income generation, and even aesthetic sense. Really, the principle is the ideal in real estate management.

So too I am reminded that the highest and best use of life is LOVE. I thank the Lord for this is very important insight. Indeed, Our Lord Jesus had repeatedly taught this during his ministry and his very life (and death) was an expression of his and the Father's love. "For God so LOVED the world that he gave his only begotten Son..." (John 3:16). So too must I aspire for that ideal. My life's highest and best use should be LOVE.

No. 2 is a practical insight I have gained from being a husband and a father. It has been a cultural and a psychological assumption that fathers must provide for the family. Yes, that is very important. But I do not think that's the be-all of being a father. If it were so, fathers would be missing a lot in life and their families (especially their children) too. I think a father must also be a mother, even as a mother must also be a father now and then. As any responsible parent would know: in the eyes of a child, nothing in this world, not even money, can take the place of the time you share with him/ her.

No. 3 is a metaphysical truth that cannot stand counterarguments or justifications. If we stand by the tenet that love is the best use of life, we are called upon to love NOW. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next year. Not after the urgent meeting has been finished, not after we have been promoted, not after we are already rich. Who is the fool who can say that he is certain about the circumstances of tomorrow, let alone that there will be a tomorrow for him? We are told in sales that tomorrow is a word for losers. I'd have to say yes, we must love now for we may not have another day to do so. Every moment that God has gifted us with is a golden time to bless the world with the love that God himself has gifted us.