Do you ever feel like you are living in that movie Groundhog Day will Bill Murray? You know what I mean? Every day feels the same and you just keep redoing the same tasks over and over?
The last few weeks I have gone to the depths of a Groundhog Day funk and come back up out of it. I think the fact that I got really sick for a couple of weeks and threw out my back probably had something to do with my stir-crazy, cabin-fever, what-is-the-purpose-of-all-this-anyway nose dive.
In any case, I found myself asking, and I mean REALLY asking, "What is life really all about?" Now naturally I have been taught some "Sunday School" answers that I believe to be true about where I come from, why I am here on this Earth, and where am I going. You can learn more about what I believe about those basic answers about the purpose of life HERE.
The Sunday School answers were the first answers to pop into my head and they did give a direction to my thoughts. I do believe we are here to become more like Christ in every possible way. But I wanted a more every day do able mundane answer that I could use to find purpose in the seeming sameness of everyday.
So I dove deeper into thought on the subject. Are we here to just run from one joy to the next? Are we meant to collect happy moments and little highs? I do believe that God wants us to be happy but is chasing those little joyful moments in the everyday really what my life is all about?
What about when life isn't joyful? Because it isn't always. For millions of people all over the world, life is more about survival than finding joy. What is it all about for all the millions of people whose life is so difficult that it seems to outsiders impossible for there to be joy there?
Even in the most depressed areas of the world people have families and children. They work and serve and love their families. They experience varied measures of joy and sorrow through these familial relationships. Maybe life is all about making connections. Maybe the joy comes in feeling connected to something larger than yourself.
As my thoughts followed this path I came to one solid conclusion. The point and purpose of the everyday is to serve others. It connects us to others. It makes us more Christlike. It brings joy and happiness to some and relieves a bit of pain and suffering of others. It benefits both the giver and receiver. It makes both the world and the people in it better.
Sometimes it is hard when we get stuck in a Groundhog day funk to see the service we preform on a daily basis. This seems especially true if most of the service you preform is in relation to your duties as a mother or father or other caregiver. But we make magic happen ... everyday. Our service counts. It makes us and our families better and stronger and happier. It makes the world better because we are creating well adjusted, tax paying, hopefully service oriented citizens to inhabit it.
That is easy to lose sight of when you are changing your 15th diaper of the day or struggling to control your temper during the 10th temper tantrum of a toddler. But it is still true. Life is not about chasing one high after another. It is not about who will win the next reality TV contest or how much money we can make. Life is all about service. It is about making life happier for those around you and easing the burdens of those around you who are suffering. It is about becoming more like Christ by serving others.
