What Matters

My friend over at Bits and Pieces -- whose posts are nothing if not eclectic -- posted this bit (or piece) and it was a good thing for me to read today. And probably everyday.

Ready or not, some day, it will come to an end.

There will be no more surprises: no minutes hours or days.

All things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass on to some else.

Your wealth, fame, and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owed or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments , frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, will your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists expire.

The wins and losses, that once seemed so important, will fade away.

At the end, it won’t matter where you were born or what side of the tracks you lived.

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, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered, or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence, but your character.

What will matter is not how many people knew you, but how many people will feel a lasting loss when you are 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 doesn’t happen by accident. It’s not a matter of circumstances but of choice.

Are you choosing a life that matters?