Live your life

Live your life

Walking, standing, sitting, acting, pausing, at rest. Year by year, month by month, day by day. Life. Is life just that? Is life simply a continual repeating of what came before?

Life. A series of choices that result in a complex set of actions culminating in our current context and location. But is that all it is? I mean it would explain a lot of what we see. Ill-considered decisions result in unfortunate destinations.

But life is not that simple. It can’t be. Can it? We all have read the signs proclaiming that you are not just the sum of all your choices. I expect they mean you are also the result of the countless choices of those surrounding you.

Curious. Does that imply that life is far more subject to influence than we might desire? If my choices are limited by the actions of others, intentionally or otherwise, how much of my life is determined or at least heavily influenced by the choices of others?

Most. If not all.

Free will. Is it free, yes. But it seems that it is not unrestricted.

Who have I influenced today? Was it intentional? Did I choose in such a way as to increase their ability to choose well, or did I restrict their ability to choose well?

Obviously, I have massively oversimplified the reality of life, but I did so in order to reveal one truth. Our actions have much more impact on the lives of others than we believe. Our choices do not just impact the direction of our lives, they seriously touch the lives of those around us. What we write, what we say, how we act. Each choice we make touches others, even when we honestly cannot see how it might.

When God said to love your neighbor it wasn’t because we had no impact, it was because our impact was greater than we understood. What we say touches others in very real and often times unique ways. How we act influences the way others see and perceive the world around them.

You matter! What you do matters. And even how you do it. While I agree that you should live your life and live it to the full. Please recognize that as you live your life, your life touches the lives of those around you to a much greater degree than we can even imagine.

Blessings!