By now, the 3rd day after, you're probably already getting tired of the news that Steve Jobs is dead. I'm sure that the 'news' will inevitably continue, books will come out before Christmas about him and perhaps even a movie by the end of next year. The vast majority of those media offerings will be to 'help' us mourn, or to 'reflect' on his success to our benefit. The reality unfortunately is that most of it will be to make money for people who had little or nothing to do with Steve for his entire life. It's just rampant opportunism, and we all know that, even if we aren't quite consciously aware that we know that. Internal skepticism of the value of such offerings manifesting itself IS the weariness that sets in so soon.
Yet we can and really should use the solemn occasion to reflect on a life lived with purpose. The very abundance of popular media reflection and subsequent 'deeper' articles on it, allows that we can (if we want) look beyond Steve's accomplishments to the very reason he was able to accomplish so much. If you ask me (and it is, admittedly, still early in the process) that reason is front and center in the recent reprinting of the address Steve gave to the graduates of Stanford University in June of 2005.
Steve said, "When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like; "If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.". It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself; "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool Ive ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."
Well, we've heard many times "carpe diem" or "live like you were dying". Steve goes on to tell the story of his brush with death in 2004, ironically ignorant at the time that he would spend the next 6 years continuing that fight with cancer. Here's two thoughts to consider:
1) In light of what he said about his philosophy of a meaningful life and knowing what we know about the last 6 years of his life, is it any wonder he used that time to create the iPhone, the iTunes store, the iPad and App stores, etc, etc?
2) If Steve could live a life that productive and full based on ONE VERSE of Scripture (Ps 90:12, "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.") - and arguably not the most important verse, HOW MUCH MORE can you and I live productive lives if we base them on the whole truth of God's written Word?
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