“What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.”--

“What most people need to learn in life is how to love people and use things instead of using people and loving things.”--Anonymous Some people spend most of their lives attempting to accumulate a hoard of material things such as big houses, expensive cars, and large bank accounts. They incorrectly believe that they must acquire a lot of things in order to be happy. When their first new house doesn’t bring them the happiness they expected, they conclude that they need a larger, more expensive house to be happy. They often continue this drive to get more and more material things until the autumn of their lives only to find that they have still not found happiness. I once spoke with a pastor who had ministered to numerous wealthy people. He told me that, without exception, as these people neared the end of their lives, they deeply regretted that they had spent so much time accumulating wealth and so little time cultivating loving relationships. In some cases, ambitious people make a habit of using other people to get what they want. People with whom they might have developed strong friendships become enemies instead of friends because of the way they are treated. Even family members of such people are at least neglected, if not used. I recently saw a moving TV commercial in which a small boy is trying to save up enough money to buy some of his father’s time. Children grow from infants to young adults in a relatively short period of time. If parents don’t give them attention and love during their childhood years, they will never have the opportunity to make up for their neglect. Some parents try to substitute money for love with their children, but this never works. No amount of money can buy a child’s love or make up for the parent’s failure to give time and love to the child. Cultivating loving relationships with family members as well as friends can be one of the most rewarding things that anyone can do. But it takes time and lots of love. We must put a higher priority on people than on things. In fact, it makes no sense to love material things, because they cannot love us back. Love is the bridge between hearts and it is a two-way bridge. In the words of Morrie Schwartz, “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” I don’t believe that anyone can ever become truly happy unless they have learned to love other people and receive love from others. It is the relationships with others that make life so wonderful for loving people. People who have never learned to give and receive love can’t even imagine what they are missing out on. Those who have found true two-way love with people will never again waste their love on things. They will use things, but they will love people. Copyright 2015 Allen W. Smith TB—729—Posted 06/23/2015