Seeking Meaning

SEEKING MEANING

                                                                       ~by Aileen Williams

Soon after graduating from college, newly married, and beginning to teach high school students, a heading printed on a church bulletin caught my attention.  It seemed to be a directive  for life.    It read:  “Live life then with responsibility, not as those who do not know the meaning of life, but those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days.” (Ephesians 5:15, Phillips Translation).  

I had never seen this passage translated so directly.   The passage seemed to give a framework for making choices and having a perspective on the use of time.  In that early part of my life, it gave a framework that helped me a great deal.  Identifying those who might know the “meaning of life” intrigued me.   What did they say it meant?  And what were the differences in how they lived?

Decades later I have come to some conclusions.  People who know the “meaning of life” know that LIFE is bigger than they are.  They are aware that it is a gift to have life and that the time they have is especially precious because of relationships with God and God’s children.

They are aware that Christ’s message about giving one’s life away is a path to find the “meaning of life”.  As a child growing up in a parsonage, my family entertained  many guests who were serving others in a variety of ways and locations.  As I sat at the dinner table listening to conversations with them and my parents, I recognized the inner joy they carried, and the depth of compassion they had for others.  They had found meaning through service and it radiated through their words and actions.

Lent is a time to become more attentive, to look for meaning, to live more responsibly.  And to remember in the life of Jesus we have the greatest example of one who taught the meaning of this life and beyond.

People who know the meaning of life are attentive.  They have learned that in

many different ways, guidance, direction and support can be experienced.  They don’t suppose that they have the answers, but they know how to pose questions which push them to be more attentive.  It may be through an experience with nature, through someone else’s experience, through music, through loving, through words read or heard, through the still small voice that comes if we are attentive.

Knowing the meaning of life alters what we expect from it.  Those who don’t know the meaning believe that life owes them something.  They feel cheated if their expectations are not met.

Those who know the meaning of life, however, are engulfed in gratitude.  Someone

Has written that at the end of life, saints have only one prayer, and it is “thank you”.  To have a heart of gratitude changes how we understand good and bad experiences.  The Ephesians passage acknowledges there will be “difficult days”, but those who understand life live responsibly even in difficulty and still have grateful hearts.