What actually matters in life

Matthew 16:26 - “For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul?” We only get one life. Just one. Yet modern society quietly trains us into a pattern: work, get paid, consume, repeat, until days blur together and we forget what life is even supposed to be about. We wake up, check our phones, rush through responsibilities, and fall asleep just to do it all again tomorrow. I’ve lived that way more times than I can count. Head down. Focused. Chasing something that always felt just out of reach. Thinking that if I just worked a little harder, earned a little more, or got a little further ahead, then I’d finally feel satisfied. But that feeling never really came. And in the middle of chasing it, I missed things that actually mattered. The quiet beauty of the world. The tall trees swaying in the wind. The stillness of a moment that doesn’t demand anything from you. Even something as small as a rabbit sitting by a parking lot, just existing, unaware of the pressure and noise we put on ourselves every day. There is a living, breathing world out there. But it’s easy to miss when your life is filled with noise. Not just literal noise, but mental noise. The constant pressure to do more, be more, achieve more. The subtle fear that if you slow down, you’ll fall behind. The idea that your worth is tied to your productivity. And the longer you stay in that mindset, the more disconnected you become, from yourself, from others, and from God. At some point, you start to realize something uncomfortable. When our time here ends, we don’t take anything with us. Not money. Not status. Not the things we spent years stressing over. All of it stays behind. The only thing that carries forward is what we’ve done for God and the people we’ve loved and led toward Him. That realization can feel heavy at first. Because it forces you to confront how much time and energy you’ve spent on things that ultimately don’t last. But at the same time, it’s incredibly freeing. Because it means the goal was never to chase wealth or status in the first place. It was never about building a life that looks impressive from the outside. It was about something much simpler, and much more meaningful. To live with purpose. To love people well. To walk with God daily. I used to think getting rich was everything. That if I could just “make it,” everything else would fall into place. But God had different plans for me. Not just for my life, but for the people around me. Because the truth is, the way we live doesn’t just affect us. It affects our families. Our friends. The people we come into contact with every single day. Whether we realize it or not, we are always influencing someone. This same mindset is what drives my open-source work. I don’t build tools or share code for personal glory or some big exit. I do it because the knowledge, the solutions, and the joy of building can outlive me. When I open-source something, I’m not taking it with me, but the impact doesn’t stop when I’m gone. It carries forward through other developers, teams, and projects. It helps someone learn faster, build something new, or solve a real problem they were stuck on. And right now, I get to watch that happen. I get to see people use it, tweak it, improve it, and make it their own. In a small way, it’s how I try to love my neighbor through what I’ve been given. Lowering the barrier for someone else to create, to learn, or to serve. The code itself won’t follow me when I go. But the good it does for others just might. This life will try to pull you into a world that feels real, but isn’t. A world built on comparison, anxiety, temporary success, and constant distraction. It will convince you that you need more to be enough. More money. More recognition. More control. But none of those things can fill what only God can. At some point, you have to make a decision. Are you going to keep chasing things that don’t last? Or are you going to start paying attention to what actually matters? Slow down. Look around you. Pay attention to the life that’s happening right in front of you, the people you love, the moments you’ve been rushing past, the quiet reminders that God has placed in your path every single day. Because in the end, this life isn’t about what you build for yourself. It’s about who you walk with, and who you bring with you. And that influence matters more than any amount of money ever could. God bless, and have a good day.