The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/ecclesiastes/6.htm

Many online Bibles have added headings over various sections of scripture something not normally found in a print Bible. And when I opened the Bible app this morning, the title of the first section of this chapter is, “Wealth is NOT the goal of life.” And that quote is certainly fitting.

I wanted to be a fireman at least since I was in Kindergarten, maybe earlier, but my first memory of being interested was at the age of 5. And I couldn’t have cared less how much money the job paid, I wanted to be a fireman. And most of my High School classmates had their career path selected before they graduated, a few becoming nurses, one other choosing to be a fireman, many enlisting in the military.

But today, you don’t hear about career selection based on happiness. Careers are chosen by the amount of money they can make. Many end up miserable, running the “rat race” as they say, punching the clock, all for a nice paycheck so they can have a nice house and a nice car.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wealth. The Bible says it isn’t money that’s the problem, it’s the love of money; hoarded wealth. I don’t question where anyone chooses to give to charity nor the amount, I certainly am not interested in sharing my own. My wife used to say if you did a good deed, like helping someone out, it wasn’t a good deed if you made it known; you weren’t doing it to help someone, you were doing it for pride and you wanted everyone to know. So I don’t understand today’s jealousy of billionaires; I trust they are charitable and if they’re not, that’s something they have to take up with God.

So if making money isn’t the goal of life, what is? Fulfilling God’s Will. He is our Creator, He put us on this earth for a purpose, and our purpose is to fulfill His plan. How do we know what His plan for us is? Good question.

I can honestly say I’ve never heard God speak to me, at least not in the way He spoke to Samuel. Remember, He physically spoke to Samuel, Samuel was awakened, and he thought it was Eli calling him. Perhaps God has spoken to me through my conscience. Whether you can literally hear God’s voice, or if it is that littler voice in your head that is talking to you, do you know what God is calling you to do?

Sometimes it’s not a voice at all, it’s a circumstance. If you have a choice to make in life, pray about it. Ask God what He wants, and He will certainly make that known to you.

I have a long story that I will keep short, I’ll just suffice to say that I married a woman that already had children from a previous marriage. We never got the opportunity to just be “us”, to spend time alone, to enjoy each others company. So while I loved her children and accepted them as my own, I always looked forward to the empty nest so it would finally be “us”. The “empty nest” feeling got the best of her though, and we ended up being foster parents, then becoming guardian of one and adopting another of our foster children.

Then my wife passed early from a terminal heart ailment, and now I’m retired and caring for those two foster children which are now special needs adults, along with a special needs adult male my wife became the guardian of for a social services organization in town.

This is not the retirement I dreamed of. They are all three mentally handicapped with behavioral disorders. Two of them have seizure disorders, and one of those is also a Type 1 diabetic. My life would be so much easier if I were alone, to enjoy my retirement, to do what I wanted, when I wanted. But instead, I’m caring for these three.

I always had it in my mind that when my wife passed, I would let someone else step in an become the care giver for these three. But when that time came, I couldn’t do it. They had been in our home for decades. I had grown to love them as if they were my own children. And I realized, this is God’s purpose for me.

I always thought it was to be a fireman to help others, but what I’m doing now, I’m convinced, is His real will. And being a fireman, along with being an Emergency Medical Technician, has given me the medical background to halfway care for the diabetic. Don’t get me wrong, it is God and God only that is keeping her alive, but He is using my hands to do it.

Is God’s Will so strong, that when I was five years old, He planted the idea of being a fireman in my head, knowing I would also have to get medical training, because it was His Will that one day, fifty years in the future, He would connect me and this brittle child together? I have no doubt in my mind.

I have family who are devout Christians, and I know they’ve discussed God’s calling as well, that He has directed their lives and led them to their calling to fulfill His Will. That, is the goal of life, to serve God.

Money is nice, but taking on the role God planned for you is what is truly important. Don’t resist, God where He leads you.