Looking Back Over Our Lives

Today I got a phone call at work from Agnes.  She lives in Oregon and was wanting some help getting her phone problem cleared up so that she could talk to a nephew who is in the Oregon Penitentiary.  (Until there is enough $, I am having to work at a company that supplies phones, etc. to many of the prisons in the US).  Agnes is 94 and has a strong European accent, one that I recognized immediately.  We got to a point where I did not understand a number on her credit card and she said "null".  My hunch was right, Agnes was German.  I asked if she spoke German and she said fluently.  I told her that we had lived in Duesseldorf for the last 4 years and that we had recently returned to the US.  The next thing that happened surprised me - Agnes started weeping.  After about 30 seconds, she was able to control herself and shared briefly her story.  My job is not to be a counselor, but to troubleshoot and help our customers, but God today, had another thing in mind for me.  For several moments she shared how before WWII she was an OBGYN just north of Frankfurt in a small village.  During the war she helped with the Allies by being a doctor and nurse and ended up marrying one of the American Soldiers she helped to get well.  Agnes is 94 and looking back over her life, she told me that her life did not turn out like she had desired.  She says she is a happily naturalized citizen in the USA, but wishes that she had never left her homeland.  Looking back over her life, she feels as if all the years she has lived have been in many ways, "wasted".  We spoke German for a few minutes (yes, I still can!!!) and I really enjoyed that.  I tried to encourage her and that God was for her and to trust in him for comfort.  As we said our goodbye (Aufwiederhören), I began to reflect upon what I had heard and experienced with her. What can we do to make sure we do not get to a place where we have lived 94 years and see it as regret.  This thought staggers me that this can happen.  I am 43 and do not want to look back over the span of my life with regrets.  If I will live in passion today for Christ, I will experience more than I could ever hope for.  I have learned this to be true.

Life is about Christ.  That is all that I can really say.  Some people gain the world and forfeit their soul in the next life as they spend eternity separated from Christ.  Some loses themselves for the name of Christ and find life both here on earth and on the other side.  That is truly the only way to live.