"what will matter"... by michael joseph

Live a life that will matter

Ready or not someday it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises no minutes hours or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass
to someone else.
Your wealth, fame, and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what u owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed to important will fade away.
It wont matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived, At the end.
It wont matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
 is not your success but your significance.
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 to emulate your example.
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.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident Its not a matter of
circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters

when someone takes his own life

In many ways this seems the most tragic for of death
certainly it can entail more shock and grief for those who are left behind than any other.
Suicide is often judged to be essentially a selfish act, but the Bible warns us not to judge.

For we know not how many valiant battles such a person may have fought and won
before he loses that one particular battle.
And is it fair that all the good acts and impulses of such a person should be forgotten
or blotted out by his final tragic act?

I think that our reaction should be one of love and compassion not condemnation.
each one of us has our own breaking point.
For some reason life puts more pressure on some of us than others
step back and think how dark desperate and loney he must have felt to think
that this was his only way out.

To those of us left behind ...lift up your heads and your hearts...
and know surely u did your best. know surely Tim did his best for as long as he could.
Remember now that his battles and torments are over.
Do not judge and not presume to fathom the mind of God where this one of his children is concerned.

Our Tim died on his own battlefield. He was killed in action fighting a civil war of his own
that none of us could even begin to imagine.
He fought against adversaries that were as real to him as his ashes are to us here.
They were powerful adversaries. They took toll of his energies and endurance.
They exhausted the last vestiges of courage and strength.
At last these adversaries overwhelmed him and it appeared that he lost the war but did he?

I see a host of victories that he has won!

For one thing...he has won our admiration...because even if he lost the war,
we give him credit for his bravery on the battlefield.
We give him credit for the courage and pride and hope that he used as his weapons as long as he could.

We shall remember not his death but his daily victories gained through his kindnesses and
thoughtfulness through his love for his family and friends, animals and all things beautiful.
We shall remember the many days that he was victorious over overwhelming odds.
We shall remember not the years we thought he had left but the intensity with which he lived
the years he had.

Remember Tims smile and the happiness he had when he was with us.
i will never forget his voice saying..."My sister what are you doing?"