YOUR LIFE HAS A PURPOSE

As we are on the threshold of a New Year, I take this opportunity to wish all my readers a purposeful and impactful year!

Whatever that was in the year 2014 (good or terrible), please bear in mind that it had a purpose.  If we try to evaluate our life objectively (without any sentiments attached), we will find that whatever that had happened had a purpose. There is some good hidden even in the happenings that were very bad. (As children, we all had gone through the disciplining of parents. At that time, it was painful, frustrating and discouraging.  But, that disciplining has made us what we are now.  We do this to our children as well). Then why can’t we accept the Creator’s purpose in us? Our life has a purpose.

Our life can be compared to a book to be written – our whole life a full book, each year a chapter and each day a page. We can write the full pages or leave blank many of the pages. If we have a purposeful living, we cannot but write something on each page. We are to give account to the Publisher who has given us all the facilities and entrusted us to write the story. Our story is important.

If we want to take along our story, we are to foresee and dream about our life’s purpose. If there is no vision, we cannot achieve anything.  Our dreams count.

We should always remember that we are ‘born to win’. We have the potential to be a winner; but many a times we act as if we are not – we condition ourselves to be losers.  We are born to make an impact.

WHAT IS CHRISTMAS FOR YOU: A HOLIDAY OR A HOLY DAY?

Chrsitmas is celebrated universally: the celebration is such that regardless of religious affinity most of the people join in the celebrations. If the Christmas celebrations started the previous week of the Christmas day (this is what I remember: I assume that the celebration of Christmas  may have been just for a day among the previous generations!) - starting with carol rounds, sending greeting cards, hanging a Christmas star etc. and ending with  a carol service on the previous day of Christmas. Now the celebrations of Christmas starts as the page of the calender turns to Decemeber (it is jokingly said that the stars first appear in front of the Liquar Shops declaring the coming of Christmas. What an irony!). Christmas stars of various kinds and illuminations are presented with all kinds of pomp. In the Western countries, exchange of gifts is very common. We are so much involved in the celebrations of Christmas that we forget the context, meaning and content of Christmas. (I assume that I do not have to narrate to the readers what is the context, meaning and content of Christmas).

It is in this backdrop of realities I am prompted to ask my readers: What is Christmas for you: A holiday or a holy day? Though the words are pronounced almost the same manner, we know it has a world of difference in the meaning and content.  Let us try to recapture the true context, meaning and content of Christmas. 

I take this opportunity to wish my readers a meaningful Christmas recapturing the context!  Let our celebrations focus on the content of Christmas.  Let us be a step forward in becoming more humane, taking the model of Jesus Christ who showed us what a human being should be, as we celebrate Christmas this year.

EVALUATE YOURSELF

You may have heard the story of a little boy who went into a store to phone some one.  He dialed the number and started the conversation. The store-owner observed and listened to the conversation:

Boy:  Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?

Woman: (at the other end of the phone line): I already have someone to cut my lawn.

Boy: Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your lawn now.

Woman: I'm very satisfied with the person who is presently cutting my lawn.

Boy: (with more perseverance): I'll even sweep your curb and your side-walk, so on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of Palm beach, Florida.

Woman: No, thank you. He is giving his best for me. There is no need of a change now.

With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver. The store-owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy.

Store Owner: Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job.

Boy: No thanks.

Store Owner: But you were really pleading for one.

Boy: No Sir, I was just checking my performance at the job I already have. I am the one who is working for that lady  I was talking to!  

How many of us can dare to do it? How many of us introspect about our faithfulness and contribution to the responsibilities given to us?  Isn't it true that many of us are unwilling to listen to others?

You must have heard about some kings who went around their kingdom trying to understand the opinion of the people about their rule.  History tells they could contribute better for their kingdom.  At the same time there were kings who were interested in the cacophony of the 'chamchaas'  (boasters). They were least bothered about the welfare of their people.

Are we among the many who are unwilling to listen to others' advice? We have to spare time and mechanisms for self-evaluation.  

HOW ARE WE TRAVELLING?

Worry, anxiety, depression etc. are the marks of the present day world. It is a paradox to note that the above emotions attack the affluent than the economically weak people. They are so much worried and preoccupied  to carry the load of their achievements in the form of wealth and possessions that they forget to live in full.  Their thoughts always are on how to 'maintain' and 'increase' what they have. The world tends to call them achievers and enterprising persons.  The burden on them is such that they cannot sleep well and have a calm life. They are not willing to let go.  It is thoughtful to note that the Indian philosophy divides the life cycle into 4 ashrams (the human life was divided into four periods. The goal of each period was the ideal fulfillment of each of the four consecutive stages of life.) :  Brahmacharya (student life), Grihastha  (household life), Vanaprastha (retired life) and Sannyasa (renounced life). Earlier days, once a person is retired, he/she was having a leisurely life.  Now they search for new avenues to 'get engaged'.  Executives go for consultancies, Bank employees go for private banking, teachers go for teaching in private Schools and Colleges... the list goes on.  I know a person who is above eighty five years, known as enterprising,  still working on 'new projects'; but the worst thing is that his sons are least interested to take up any of his projects (they are busy in foreign countries trying to build 'empires' there!)  

Here is a thoughtful anecdote: A wealthy man was sitting in his balcony  when a little ant caught his eye. It was carrying a big leaf several times more than its size. The man watched it for more than an hour. He saw that the ant faced many impediments during its journey, paused, took a diversion and then continued towards destination.

At one point the tiny creature came across a crack in the floor. It paused for a little while, analyzed and then laid the huge leaf over the crack, walked over the leaf, picked the leaf on the other side then continued its journey.

The man was captivated by the cleverness of the ant, one of God’s tiniest creatures. The incident left the man in awe and forced him to contemplate over the miracle of Creation. It showed the greatness of the Creator. In front of his eyes there was this tiny creature of God, lacking in size yet equipped with a brain to analyze, contemplate, reason, explore, discover and overcome. Along with all these capabilities, the man also noticed that this tiny creature shared some human shortcomings.

The man saw about an hour later the creature had reached its destination – a tiny hole in the floor which was entrance to its underground dwelling. And it was at this point that the ant’s shortcoming that it shared with the man was revealed. How could the ant carry into the tiny hole the large leaf that it had managed to carefully bring to the destination? It simply couldn't!

So the tiny creature, after all the painstaking and hard work and exercising great skills, overcoming all the difficulties along the way, just left behind the large leaf and went home empty-handed.

The ant had not thought about the end before it began its challenging journey and in the end the large leaf was nothing more than a burden to it. The creature had no option, but to leave it behind to reach its destination. The man learned a great lesson that day.

There is a famous malayalam song "Samayamaam radhathil njaan" (For the non-malayaali readers: I travel in the chariot of time) in which a stanza is thus: 

  

   Bhaarangal koodunnathinu onnum venda yaathrayil

     Alpamappam vishapinnu, swalpam vellam daahikkil

(Do not carry unnecessary load which hinders your journey;  For hunger some food, for thirst a little water)

I am reminded of the writing in the train compartments in the earlier days: "Less luggage, more comfort".

Isn't that the truth about our lives?

We worry about our family, we worry about our job, we worry about how to earn more money, we worry about where we should live – 5 bedroom or 6 bedroom house, what kind of vehicle to buy – a Mercedes or BMW or a Porsche, what kind of dresses to wear, all sorts of things, only to abandon all these things when we reach our destination – The Grave. We don’t realize in our life’s journey that these are just burdens that we are carrying with utmost care and fear of losing them, only to find that at the end they are useless and we can’t take them with us.

QUO VADIS?  

(Quo vadis? is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?" The modern usage of the phrase refers to a Christian tradition regarding Saint Peter. Wikipedia) 

You might have heard the expression: “The wise learns from someone else’s mistakes, the smart  learns from his/her own, and the stupid never learns even from his/her own mistakes.”  When we look around, we will see that many belong to the third category. There is a reason which prompted me to quote this - two deaths of cancer patients and three accidents that has taken the life of a nineteen year boy and injured four people within a week in a small town I live (How much more the occurrences in the big cities must be!).  The first two I referred were suffering of oral cancer; the cause of cancer being tobacco use. Many have advised them of the dangers of tobacco; but have fallen on deaf ears. They were so addicted to tobacco that they ignored it.  The accident that took away the life of the youngster was due to rash driving. The high power bikes are a temptation of the youths who love high speed. The other two accidents were due to drunken driving which has taken a few to the hospitals. The drunken drivers hit three or more vehicles in a row before they were stopped by the public.  By that time damage to persons and vehicles have happened.

We see and hear about the dangers of tobacco use.  We see the victims of cancer due to this. We see and hear about the consequences of drunken and rash driving; the Government machinery is trying to conscientize about the dangers of tobacco, liquor, addictive stuff, drunken as well as rash driving etc.  We may know so many people who have fallen prey to the above and other addictions that destroy their body. We may know their families and the innocent people becoming victims who go through hellish experiences because of these addictions. But how many learns from others’ mistakes? How many learn even after they go through the bitter experiences? 

Each one must ask the questions: Where am I going to? How do I spend my earnings and energy – do I spend it judiciously? Do I destroy myself for the sake of momentary thrill and pleasure? Do I take away the joy of the family because of my habits?