This is the Moment that You Told Her that You Loved Her but You Don't

When I was at the super-large conglomerate store that shall not be named today, I noticed something very interesting on the rack of magazines in the check-out line. Above the screaming headlines about Brad and Jen, Brad and Angelina, and Jessica I saw something very rare. The tagline proclaimed "He Changed the World" and sat next to a picture of John Paul II. I looked over to the next aisle and saw the smiling pontiff on the cover of "People." The past week I have seen coverage of John Paul's death in the New York Times, the Washington Post, on ABC, NBC, and CNN, but the juxtaposition of his face next to the biggest names in Hollywood struck me as incredibly odd.

How different were the worldviews of the man who lead the world's largest church and those with whom he shared the cover space? I don't want to get on a rant about the waywardness and materialism of Hollywood/America, but the last time that I can think of someone so selfless sharing space with the people that we usually laud and adore was the death of Mother Teresa in 1997, but even then she posthumously shared the spotlight with Princess Diana. Perhaps this is just the dream of an idealist, but what would happen when we began to recognize and honor people for doing the things that truly make a difference in a world? People that visit those who have no one to turn to, friends that go completely out of their way to support and encourage those that they love, and men/women who go into the places that the rest of us fear because they know that Jesus would already have gone in ahead of them if he were here today.

It seems that my prayer lately has been for eyes to see what I am often blinded to in this world. So many times, the things that are truly weighty and worthwhile are obstructed by the things that are passing and hold no true calling for me. I think it takes a certain kind of conditioning to learn that the things of this world never satisfy. That is the message of Ecclesiastes and if the man who had it all says it is never enough, the I know I will never have enough to truly make me happy. Instead, I must learn to fill myself on the things that are eternal, the things that are steadfast, and the things that will never pass away. That is the secret, and that is my mission.