What Is the Meaning of Life?

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What Is the Meaning of Life?

“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

I love the movie, Forrest Gump. The main character is such a friendly, simple, even naïve young man, with all the odds stacked against him. But in a complex,

hostile, and unstable world, he is the wisest and happiest person of all. His long-suffering mother, who is well attuned to the realities of an unforgiving world, coins the phrase (one of many) that guides Forrest through the rough and tumble of life, and which Forrest proffers to the stranger who happens to sit beside him at the bus stop.

The saying rings true, doesn’t it? You never know what you’re going to get in life. We might have our dreams and make our plans, but in the end, life just happens. It never stops to ask our permission, and so it doesn’t always run according to the script we might have written for ourselves.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a racing driver. I loved car racing, and so, when I could afford it, I would head over to an indoor go-karting track with friends to fulfil my need for speed. I loved it!

One particular day, when I was in my mid-teens, it just so happened that the national We might have our dreams and make our plans, but in the end, life just happens.

go-karting champion was there. After I had spent about fifteen minutes darting around the corners and weaving through the other competitors, I got out of the go-kart, and he approached me.

“You know,” he said to me, “I was watching you out there. You’re pretty good. I think you might have what it takes to be successful in racing.”

My eyes widened and my heart soared. It was my dream to be a racer, and to think I might be able to succeed at it, do it for a living, and perhaps even be a champion one day was music to my teenage ears.

“All you need is a go-kart,” he said, “and I could point you in the right direction.”

I raced home and told my parents. But mum and dad just weren’t in a financial position to buy me a go-kart and enter me in competitions. And so, today, I’m not a racing car driver. I just watch it on television. My plans literally did not stay on track.

Did you make plans for your life? Did you have a scenario in your mind about how you wanted your life to play out? Even if your plans are on track, can you guarantee that they’ll stay on track?

Or maybe you’re the kind of person who doesn’t really make plans. You just like to go with the flow, live in the moment, and make the most of that. But can you guarantee that those moments will be good, happy, fulfilling moments?

The fact is we just can’t guarantee things. Many of us have the power to plan, some of us have the means to fulfil them, but none of us has the ability to control all the variables of life. There is so much of life that we just cannot control. “You never know what you’re gonna get.”

You see, life is bigger than just me. Human life was happening well before I showed up, and it will continue long after I’m gone. Yes, we all share commonalities, such as birth, growth, and death—at least that’s how it’s supposed to go. But even those None of us has basics are things we don’t the ability to control. How are we meant to control all the fulfil our hopes in life when variables of life. some of its most basic elements are out of our own hands?

What happens when it feels like someone else’s hand is on our steering wheel? How do we successfully thread our way around the bends, corners, and straights of life without crashing off somewhere? Where am I supposed to find meaning or contentment?

The meaning of life is far bigger than just the meaning of my own life. I’m really just one drop in the ocean. Life can’t really be just about me and me alone.

But where do we start to look for an answer? Is it even possible to know the meaning of life? Should we even attempt to find out? Is it even important to know if life has any meaning? The meaning of life is far bigger than just the meaning of my own life . . . Life can’t really be just about me and me alone.