Behold the Stars

I just ran across a great bumper sticker:

The Meaning of Life is to Live It.

NPR this morning told the tale of a couple in foreclosure. 10 years ago she was a CPA with a six-figure salary. Her family had a nice home on the coast, took exotic vacations, and still had money left for their 401k. Then she so severely injured her back that she could no longer work. During the next 10 years her family faced multiple medical issues — a knee replacement, a broken jaw, and complications from surgery. They sold their beautiful home on the coast and purchased, using a sub-prime mortgage, a modest ranch house further inland.  Now the mortgage crisis hits…

They didn’t plan for this. They did what they were supposed to do, but life had other plans. That’s a phrase we hear a lot: “…but life had other plans.” And it’s true.  What did our couple do? They did what most of us would do — they saved, worked, tried to pay off debts. 10 years later they’re still trying to clean up the mess. That’s what you do.

The excitement of the fun house is that we don’t know what is coming around the next corner. The excitement of our lives is just the same. 10,000 joys; 10,000 sorrows. We create dreams and plans, but when it comes down to it, life is what it is – a wild ride at the fair. We may see success way beyond our wildest dreams or we may face tragedy that would bring the strongest man to his knees. Our job is to stay on this ride until the big doors open and we pop back out into the glare of daylight. We don’t have a choice, really.
That’s it. The meaning of life is to live it.

Get busy, then.

Make a great day.