Blogging from A to Z: Love, everlasting

I’m reading “When the Game is Over, Everything Goes Back in the Box,” by John Ortberg. Got it for 80 cents at a recent library sale! I’m on Chapter Five and I’m really enjoying it. I also feel incredibly challenged. The premise is that much of what we strive for in life is temporary – money, fame, a nice house and car, the next promotion or step in our career, the latest wireless phone or tablet.

What lasts forever is love. Our love for other people, for God, loving acts towards friends and even more so toward people who are hard to love. With the urgency and seemingly high priority of things that we have pending, the long hours that we work at the expense of spending time with our family and friends and the frequent times we utter, “When things calm down, I’ll have time to …” I’m reminded that what really matters is our building meaningful relationships now that will truly last an eternity (involving the inward love between souls).

I wish I wasn’t so quick-tempered, impatient, selfish and busy with the “Tyranny of the Urgent.” Charles Hummel wrote a short book that I read in college that addresses how God’s Will and Word take precedence in determining priorities. Obviously I still don’t have the concept perfected. I guess being aware is a positive step forward.

None of us know whether we have tomorrow. I’m not being morbid, just realistic. And, when we die, everything that we’ve accomplished – all the material things that we possess do indeed go “back in the box.” What remains is the time we spent with others. The love and selfless acts that we gave to others and God. The growth of our soul and those around us. This Easter season, I’m reminded that Christ gave literally everything to help us have a loving relationship with God, and others in our lives. Maybe that’s what marketing folks mean when they say, “Think outside the box.” It really represents the only undefined moments of our lives.