Having read many books, perhaps I can say one or two things about reading. And perhaps just one or two things are all that I can say, not more. And perhaps that one or two things are all that matters.
Likewise, having lived more than 50 years, perhaps I can say one or two things about what life is about. And nothing more than just one or two thing might be all that I can say. And perhaps that is all that matters.
Perhaps leaving volumes of notes and detailed records on the thoughts and the experiences that I have come across all these years wouldn’t mean much to my children. Only one of two mentions about what really matters in life is all that they would heed, or need.
When Martha was heavily occupied, trying to manage so many things for her guests, Jesus said,
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10: 41-42
Such thought gives me sense of relief because, then, I won’t have to hold onto all my notes, books and records that I have kept for many years for my children to go through when I am gone. I should rather try to distill them all into one or two short sentences.
As the writer of Ecclesiates wrote at the end of his book,
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. “
Ecclesiastes 12:13 NIV
Or, as Micah sums it up,
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
Or, as in the verse in the Gospel of John that my late grandmother emphasized to me,
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5
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