How will you measure your life?

http://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-measure-your-life/ar/1
Though the article is not Jesus centrific it is an extremely valuable and timely piece written to a body of students that are entering the world in the most troubling of times. Clayton M. Christensen the author is a professor and a Christian teaching at the Harvard Business School. I think some of his reflections are very necessary for us to heed some time reading and my hope is we'd appropriate some things for our relationship with God.

..."For me, having a clear purpose in my life has been essential. But it was something I had to think long and hard about before I understood it."..."I decided to spend an hour every night reading, thinking, and praying about why God put me on this earth. That was a very challenging commitment to keep, because every hour I spent doing that, I wasn’t studying applied econometrics."...

His championship Basketball team was to play the big game on Sunday and this was a conflict for him and the team. "I’m a deeply religious man, so I went away and prayed about what I should do. I got a very clear feeling that I shouldn’t break my commitment—so I didn’t play in the championship game.

In many ways that was a small decision—involving one of several thousand Sundays in my life. In theory, surely I could have crossed over the line just that one time and then not done it again. But looking back on it, resisting the temptation whose logic was “In this extenuating circumstance, just this once, it’s OK” has proven to be one of the most important decisions of my life. Why? My life has been one unending stream of extenuating circumstances. Had I crossed the line that one time, I would have done it over and over in the years that followed.

The lesson I learned from this is that it’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time. If you give in to “just this once,” based on a marginal cost analysis, as some of my former classmates have done, you’ll regret where you end up. You’ve got to define for yourself what you stand for and draw the line in a safe place."

"I have a pretty clear idea of how my ideas have generated enormous revenue for companies that have used my research; I know I’ve had a substantial impact. But as I’ve confronted this disease, it’s been interesting to see how unimportant that impact is to me now. I’ve concluded that the metric by which God will assess my life isn’t dollars but the individual people whose lives I’ve touched."

This is a great article to motivate us to shoot for the higher calling in Christ and to love the people around us deeply investing into their lives the Word of God but more so his love. I'd love to see Japanese people impacted in their life to seek what is their purpose more specifically what is God's purpose for them. I know that word has for some folks a sour connotation but we need not throw out the concept. God has a purpose for each of our lives it is to be directed by the Holy Spirit and we are to be wise to invest time to seek Him for that awesome venture of Faith. I am living out a dream and all I can say is this is so much fun. I love what God is doing.

1 Kings 5:5 Solomon speaking..."And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God..."