By REV. LUNA DINGAYAN
www.nordis.net

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” — Mark 8:36

4 C’s

In one of his columns, Randy David told a story about a taxi driver named Jaydan whom he and his wife had conversations with as he drove them to the airport in Singapore. As the story goes, Jaydan is now living alone by himself. His wife left him one day and never returned. They have a son, but the last time he saw him was when he was only ten years old. Jaydan is now in his late forties. When Randy asked him if he thought of marrying again, he said that young women in their country nowadays measure a man’s worth by how well he meets the 4 C’s – condo, car, credit card, and cash. Very few bother to get married; everyone is working all the time; there is no time to raise a family, Jaydan added.

And this reminds me of an incident I encountered in Singapore a few years ago. I attended a theological consultation, wherein a Singaporean participant gave thanks to us other Asian participants for sending our women to Singapore to serve as domestic helpers. The Singaporean participant was a psychologist and he had been handling a lot of cases involving family problems. From his point of view, without the domestic helpers from the Philippines and other Asian countries who are serving as shock absorbers of tensions within the family, more Singaporean families would be problematic due to pressures of earning more and more. Obviously, material things are given more priority in their family life.

What Matters Most

Following is a beautiful write up that is worth reflecting e-mailed to me by a friend. It is entitled, “Live a Life that Matters.”

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
All the things collected whether treasures or bubbles will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.
So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won’t matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived at the end.
It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured? What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion or sacrifice that enriched,
empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not competence, but your character. What will matter is not how many people you know, but how many people will feel a lasting loss, when you’re gone.
What will matter are not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters most does not happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance, but of choice.

Gaining the whole world vs. losing one’s soul

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”(Mark 8:36). While it is true that material things are needed to support family life, without love which is the very soul of family relationship, materials things cannot sustain a lasting family relationship. A strong family life makes a strong nation. A strong family life is founded on love, something that matters most. # nordis.net