Last year, I had a life-changing experience at 90 years old. — William Shatner, 2022
Wow! Blasted into outer space at the age of 90! That would certainly qualify as a life-changing experience!
All of us would love to have one or more life changing experiences like that. We set goals and make plans for ourselves in an effort to do just that. We'd also love to reach our 90's, still having our faculties and vitality to enjoy having life-changing experiences before we leave this world.
It's because we want to matter. We want to know that we did our best and left our mark. Because we are painfully aware of our own mortality, and time is ticking by and time is running out ... day by day, minute by minute.
The truth is we don't really know how much time we have. Who knows if we're even going to make it to next week, much less our 90's. So added to the pressure of our own mortality, is the pressure of not knowing really how much time we've got left ... so get up and get busy ...
Time marches on and quickly we find ourselves a little older, and perhaps running a little behind in reaching the lofty goals we set for ourselves. So we step up our pace a bit and work a little harder, trying to get a little farther along.
Along the way we're watching what other folks are doing, and we see folks who have accomplished so much more. Now we're feeling a little intimidated, because there's no way we can go on social media see all the accomplishments of others, and then be able to look back at our own accomplishments and not come up short by comparison.
Now we really need to up our game. The pressure builds and builds, until finally one day we're stuck! Because pressure like that stifles and kills creativity.
The pressure will never relent when we are trying to achieve success the world's way. We might achieve fortune and fame, or we might not. Still, the pressure will always be there ... the pressure to keep striving and keep reaching up.
There are rewards to worldly success. It might even result in life-changing events. But it is finite success, and will fade away even more quickly than it came.
It is true that there is wisdom in managing your time and resources correctly. The Bible tells us to number our days ... in other words, pay attention to how we're spending our precious finite time, talents and resources, because one day we will absolutely have to give an accounting to the One who gave those to us. All those assets are actually owned by Him, and loaned to us as an investment. One day we'll return His property to Him with interest. And that interest will be all the good that was accomplished through managing those resources well, resulting in service to others and in bringing honor and glory to Him. This is true success, and it is eternal, and it is life-changing.