Will It Still Matter in 50 Years?

What have you done today that will still matter in 50 years?

That is a question I once wrote in the center of a poster. I was attending a leadership course in the middle of my career. The facilitator asked us to draw a mind map of our life on the page. Our personal life. Our professional life. Our goals. Our priorities. Our responsibilities. Life was full. Maybe too full.  In the middle of the visual I drew of my full life was this question, reminding me that all my to-do’s did not hold equal importance.

When I returned to the office the next week, I hung the poster on my office whiteboard with a couple magnets. It would remind me to prioritize when my platter began to overflow again. Which happened the moment I opened my inbox. In the class, I had felt a new determination to go home at a decent time each day. The people at home were far more important than the meetings and deadlines on my calendar. Yet the feeding of my insatiable appetite for approval came from my career, so I would often stay at the trough late in the day. One day a colleague stopped in my office as she was leaving and pointed to the center of my poster. “Are you doing something that will still matter in 50 years? If not, you need to go home.” It was an accountability check that I did not ask for. It didn’t feel good. But it made me get out of my chair and drive home that day and many days throughout my career.

Later I began to use a modified version of the same question when I laid my head on my pillow each night. “What did I do today that will still matter in 50 years?” This daily check calibrated my priorities. I hated to not have an answer each night. And as much as the questions helped my natural life, they were a greater gift to my eternal life.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 6.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [Matthew 6:19-20 ESV]

Jesus was referring to material things that money can buy. I believe it is the same for how time is spent. Time gets eaten up by the unimportant when we don’t do the important with intention.

Now I’m at a stage in life when the 50 year question is taking on a different meaning. I expect to live a long time, but not more than 50 years. So the things that will matter then are the investments in younger generations. The foundations that others will build on. Paul talked about it when he wrote to the church in Corinth.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. [I Corinthians 6: 10 ESV]

Foundation building does not feed the approval appetite because foundations are unseen. Foundations go unrecognized. Foundation building can take on emotional, financial, or spiritual characteristics. Every word, every dollar, every prayer. All of these help create a foundation that others can build on a long time after we are gone. Firm foundations. They will still matter in 50 years.

Let the 50 year question help you live a better life. If you feel overwhelmed with the busyness of life, ask which things will still matter in 50 years. If you want to know your life has purpose, ask what you did today that will still matter in 50 years. And if you want to ensure something matters in 50 years, build a foundation.

Distant and Near

As we enter the week between Palm Sunday and Easter, I’m thinking about what the friends and family of Jesus went through that first Passion week. The difficult week was sandwiched between two celebrations, Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem and His resurrection. The English word “passion” has moved on from its earlier meaning, but the Latin root passio means “suffering.” What an appropriate description of that week. Jesus suffered. I can’t find sufficient adverbs for that verb.

Those who loved Him also suffered as they watched Him. They must have agonized the same way we do when we see a loved one treated cruelly or in excruciating pain. They mourned as we mourn over the death of a loved one.

Three of the gospels described that some of His friends watched from a distance.

Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. (Matthew 27:55-56 NIV)

Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there. (Mark 15:40-41 NIV)

But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. (Luke 23:49 NIV)

John’s version of the story saw things differently.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. (John 19:25 NIV)

So were they standing at a distance or were they standing near the cross? Three writers saw them at a distance. One saw them standing near. Is this a contradiction? Was the proximity just relative to different observation points? Did time pass between one stance and the other? Did they have to keep a little distance while the Roman soldiers were on duty until death drew near? I’ve pondered the question this week because I enjoy the details of stories. Often the details are unnecessary to the main plot, but they do weave some texture into the scenery.

I imagined what it would be like to be one of those women.  So privileged they were to have shared the earth with Him. To walk right beside Him. To talk with Him on the hillside. To feel the freedom of His forgiveness. To lavish Him with expensive perfume. To love Him and to know how much He loved them. To watch Him from a distance and sometimes sit right at His feet. To discover the power of His death and resurrection.

And then I stopped imagining about them. No need to, because I am one of them.

So privileged to take my earthly journey with Him. To walk right beside Him. To talk with Him on the mountaintop and in the valleys. To feel the freedom of His forgiveness. To love Him and know how much He loves me. To lavish Him with scents of my worship. To have watched Him from a distance sometimes. And other times to sit down at His feet. To discover the power of His death and resurrection. I am one of those women.