Beyond You

As life continues to move forward - children leaving home, athletic prowess diminishing, time passing - I have come to discover that the greatest moments are those spent on others.  There is something 'eternity like' in bringing kindness and joy to another person.  And not just another person, but a person that brings you no benefit in return - no payback.  Kindness for pure kindness - no 'thanks', no gratuitous favors in return, no self promotion.  I feel delight in the reception of a gift but I feel fulfillment in the giving of one.  

My speculation of why I feel this way is two fold - point of observation,  nature of creation.  My point of observation has changed over the years.  I have filled my belly of youth with every self promoting pleasure I could ever experience.  Like Solomon, I refused myself nothing.  But now, my heart does not look back to the 'good ole days'.  I look back and miss the moments that could have been used to impact someone's' life.  The 'pleasure quotient' has lost its appeal to me.  Meaning with substance drives my mind today.  Older age has not just stripped my ability for pleasure, it has shown it for what it really is.  Meaning and depth of character and impactful living have replace self-fulfillment.

The second cause for this sense of delight in giving over receiving is our nature by creation.  Since we are created in the image of God, then it stands to reason that some of the image must at times present itself as an echo within us.  I know that that image is marred and eroded but there are times when it speaks to us.  This image of the Self-Sufficient God, Who gives and receives nothing back in want, speaks to us.  We feel the delight of God-Giving.  It is when we give that we resonate with the notes of His Image within us.  In the delight of giving, it is one of the only moments a human being can securely and completely say, "This is what God feels like".

As I begin to understand life 'Beyond Me' I realize that giving in its purest selfless form can only lead to one place - the giving of ones' life.  Jesus took this beyond self.  For He did not give His life for those who wanted it given.  This was not a fireman running into a burning saving a child and returning the child to tearfully grateful parents.  No this is a man that allowed Himself to be bound and throw into the fire by an arsonist crowd - a crowd that took pleasure in the consuming of others yet being unaware they were being saved from the flames that would consume them.  I don't know if I am ready for that kind of giving.  But does anyone ever think they are?

Retiring and wasting away is unacceptable.  Giving is something old age or poverty or success or failure can not stop.  The greatest potential of human life is always possible.