The Meaning of Life

I suppose we all do it at some point--question the meaning of life. I've been doing it off and on for the past few years, passing through periods of contentment and peace only to have them shaken by philosophy once again.

I don't remember exactly what's triggered my latest episode of questioning, but it's been going on for a couple of weeks now. No matter what else I'm thinking or doing, there's the constant underpinning of the question: What's the point of this all?

And so, like always, I've been asking different people their thoughts, and I've gotten a variety of answers:

We are here to worship God.

We are here to see how much hardship we can endure before we die.

We are here to learn to love deeper and deeper, more and more fully, to grow and expand in our ability to love, until we are ready to meet Love face to face--until we are ready to return to the Love from which we came...and I think we should enjoy the journey along the way. I think that we should find joy and purpose as we seek to expand our love and in end be ready to crawl into God's lap.

We are here to eat, drink, and find pleasure in God's creation.

We are here to help eliminate the evil and suffering in this world by not responding in kind. When someone hurts us but we refuse to react out of hurt or negativity, then we can successfully allow that hurt to die and replace it with the love that comes from God. God is all goodness and wants goodness to exist, and so we must help create that goodness in addition to helping stop its opposite.

We are here to provide God comic relief.

We are here to make this world a better place...just as Jesus made this world a better place. --------

What about you? What is your answer to the question (albeit in different forms at different times) that has risen from its dormant place in my heart?

What is the meaning of life? What's the point of it all? Why are we here--on this earth--in this space and time? Is there a reason?