What's the goal of your life?

What lies at the end of this journey for you? The answer matters a lot. Your answer shapes how you approach the process of living--the depth of your answer determines the fervor and excitement and patience and humility that you bring to the task. Ask yourself: what's at stake in your life path?

The Christian tradition has said that our great hope in life is to end up in heaven when we die. The goal of life = salvation, or going to heaven.

That's not a bad answer. It's an essential part of the core Christian promise. Believing in Jesus makes true the promise of an eternal life surrounded by the love of God. Death is not the end of you. You need not fear it—your life, eye wiped of every tear, freed from every injustice, will go on. That's pretty good news... especially for those of you who have walked with a loved one up to and through death, or come face-to-face with your own. One thing that's at stake in a life on the Christian path is what happens to you when you die.

But there's more to the "goal" of the Christian life, and it has to do with life. A connection to Jesus brings "abundant life" as another goal. Abundant life is a life in which there is more than enough of all the things you need to live: relationships, peace, food, values, rest, work, beauty, meaning, music, deep emotions, sharing, truth. In short, the "goal" of the Christian is also the good life—a life, well lived, in harmony with the earth and with others.

Two goals. Both brilliant and compelling. If these were the goals of YOUR life... what would you do to pursue them? What kind of excitement, humility, passion, integrity, and imagination would guide your search? Who would you want with you on the journey?

Every once in a while, ask yourself what you're searching for in life—what's your goal. Be honest and clear about it. What we're searching for profoundly shapes how we life.

Seek, and you shall find, Jesus says. What then, really, do we seek in this life?