Stop trying.

Stop trying to impress people with your personal accomplishments. Not even God cares about your worldly success. When you get to heaven, do you think God is going to say, "Hey! Congrats on losing all that weight! You look good." Is he going to say, "I'm glad you took all those vacations. Being culturally knowledgeable and tan is really important in heaven." Is he going to say, "You sure are good at being right."

When you're gone, people remember you for the things you say. The things you obsess over. The words you use and the actions you take are what's left over. What you talk about day and night, the stuff you buy, the pictures you take, the people you spend time with, the books you read, the off-hand comments you make that you think no one hears... those are the things left behind.

So do you want to be remembered as the person who lost 300 pounds, the person who had a condo in Hawaii, or the guy who always had to have the last word?

In the end, when you've died, nobody is going to care that you lost 10 pant sizes. No one is going to care how many trips you made to the Big Island. And no one is going to care about how well you argued, or how perfect your grammar was. No one is going to care that you made $600,000 a year or that you drove a shiny Ferrari or went to a lot of operas/rock concerts. No one is going to care if you bought all organic/fair trade products, or recycled all your cans/jars etc. to make Martha-Stewart-esque projects to put on your shelves. No one is going to care if you had the coolest skinny jeans or the flashiest phone or the biggest TV.

You want to know what people will care about?


How much you loved.


So stop trying to impress me. Stop trying to show the world how much how much holier you are, or more politically correct, or tolerant, or more adventurous, or successful, than "the other guy."

Love God. Love people. Everything else just gets in the way.