Choose To Live A Life That Matters
How will the value of your days be measured? So what will matter?
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built;
not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew,
but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters.
Your Mother
Your mother is always with you.
She’s the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street,
She’s the smell of certain foods you remember,
flowers you pick, the fragrance of life itself.
She’s the cool hand on your brow when you’re not feeling well,
She’s your breath in the air on a cold winter’s day.
She is the sound of the rain that lulls you to sleep,
the colours of a rainbow; she is Christmas morning.
Your mother lives inside your laughter.
She’s the place you came from, your first home,
and she’s the map you follow with every step you take.
She’s your first love, your first friend, even your first enemy,
but nothing on earth can separate you.
Not time, not space, not even death.
Afterglow
I'd like the memory of me to be a happy one,
I'd like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.
I'd like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,
of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.
I'd like the tears of those who grieve to dry before the sun,
of happy memories that I leave when life is done.
Peace at Last
by Blessed John Henry Newman
May the Lord support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes,
and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.
Then in his mercy, may he give us a safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at the last.
Amen
