Often in leadership circles, we talk about living well, being intentional, and having influence. We strive to express all of this in a way that glorifies our Creator by living out all He has made us to be. But at the end of it all, who are we to judge that we have lived well because we have lived this way.
Today, I am attending the funeral of a young man who by all appearances influenced no one beyond his adoptive parents and siblings. He was blind and deaf and his ability to communicate even his most basic needs was limited at best. The exposure of his small forming shape prior to his birth left him totally dependent on those around him because of multiple physical and mental problems.
So, did he live well?
Or is his life the way things really are?
Have I deceived myself into thinking that I am giving when much of what I do is filled with more self-focus than I would like to admit? Perhaps, I am more blind and deaf than I realize. Am I not dependent on the One who has chosen to adopt me and care for me although I act independent and self-sufficient? Do I really have influence or am I taking credit for something that in reality God has done? Am I really as intentional as I purport to be or am I in fact like this young man, wandering even in my own home hoping to run into what it is I desire?
Who has really lived well, this one who displayed the greatest dependency possible or me, one who has been gifted lavishly yet deceived into self-sufficiency in too many ways?
How do we judge a life lived well?
