Seeing Beyond The Froth — An Eternal Perspective

It’s said that life can turn on a sixpence. I found out that saying to be true more than once in my lifetime. One minute, I’m making plans or ruminating on trivia; the next, everything becomes surreal.

It happened one time in France over twenty years ago:

When I Nearly Drowned — Waking Up To What Matters

Jack, my business partner, my late wife, Cushla and I were on a business trip in South-East France. Tom, a fellow Irishman and an acquaintance of Jack’s who lived in the area with his French wife was showing us around.

Driving through the Alpine foothills, we could see the melted glacial water in the rivers sparkling under the hot sun. It seemed that they were inviting us in to cool down. We spotted some tourists white water rafting, and Jack and I wanted to have a go. Cushla took a rain check as she preferred to chill out and enjoy the surrounding beauty.

‘Let’s book a trip with one of the local white-water rafting companies,’ I suggested. ‘Notta t’all’, exclaimed Tom. ‘Why would ye be wastin’ your money when you have an experienced guide like me? C’mon, let’s go. I know where to get a raft, he added with faux authority in his voice.

My instincts were telling me to decline his proposition. But saving money was music to Jacks’s ears, so an hour later, all three of us boys were in the borrowed raft on one of the faster-flowing rivers.

I’m usually confident in the water and was even looking forward to falling out of the raft, especially as we all wore life jackets and helmets. I didn’t have to wait long. As we turned a bend, the currents brought us towards the near bank of the river. There glowering at us was an enormous boulder jutting out over the water. When the raft crashed into it, I went flying in the air. I held my breath as I bombed back down into the swirling waters. But when I tried to reach the surface, my helmet banged into what I thought was the boulder. I manoeuvred myself backwards to get free, but when I swam upwards, I crashed head-on into an immovable object once more. By this stage, I was panicking as I gasped for air. It all happened in what was probably only a few seconds, but a lot of thoughts were running through my mind.

I thought about the stupid and banal way my life was ending. But my most substantial thought was regret: Cushla and I had a row the night before. I can’t remember exactly what it was about, but I know it was about nothing important. I had focused on a trivial disagreement and wouldn’t let it go. Cushla, although usually serene, was naturally upset. Now, under the raging waters, I felt guilty for causing a ridiculous argument. But my overriding regret was that  I thought I had taken her for granted. I adored her, but my ambition to build the business distracted me. Now, I thought I’d never see her again in this life.

Then, with the little remaining air in my lungs, I managed another attempt to struggle upwards and crashed through the river’s surface. The world looked spectacularly vivid and beautiful, but I focused on the raft and the two boys staring wide-eyed at me as they paddled furiously to get to me. Later, Jack told me that Tom had kept steering the raft to find me, but because of his inexperience, he had unwittingly kept it over me instead.

 With no time to spare, Jack twigged that I was under the raft and frantically paddled in another direction, allowing me to burst through the surface and gasp for air. Ten minutes later, delighted to be alive and hugging Cushla on the riverbank, I vowed to keep my mind on what mattered.

An Eternal Perspective Changes Everything

 So what does matter, you might ask. First, you must look beyond this world’s horizons and be keenly aware of what influencers or the media tell you is important. In the end, the world will let you down. It will abandon you when you’re sick or are no longer ‘productive’, and all its allures and trivia won’t matter on your deathbed.  

So as not to waste your life and ensure you are not living for nothing, it is imperative to think about the impermanence of things. Everything our materialistic culture tells you is essential will fade away. In the next life, God or you won’t dwell on what you owned, your status or your earthly achievements. The mystics and those who have had near-death experiences tell us that our souls will be so illuminated that we will see, among other things, the hurt caused by living for the wrong priorities and focusing on trivia.

‘So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’— 2 Corinthians 4:18

Letting the reality of the above quote sink in will forever change how you think and live. I witnessed with my eyes how Cushla, who had an eternal perspective, made an ordinary life extraordinary. She prioritised what mattered: loving God and those around her. Consequently, she was more fulfilled than anybody I had ever known. Despite enduring a long-term debilitating illness, her eternal perspective helped her to carry her suffering. She didn’t become mired in the difficulty of life because she understood that we were all created for something so much bigger than the challenges we face today. In fact, she saw challenges as opportunities to strengthen her faith, learn about God, and trust Him for the path ahead. I learned from her that we can misinterpret the details of our lives if we lack an eternal perspective. For example, I misconstrued and rejected hardship of all kinds because I didn’t try, as Cushla did, to have an internal view of God’s eternal picture. Anything that hindered my comfort and convenience in the present I saw as a nuisance or even an enemy.  

As a young man in a hurry, like almost everyone I knew who had weak faith, I  sought satisfaction for the infinite longings of my heart by forcing and trying to manipulate the world into bending to my will. Deep down, I knew this approach wasn’t working, so a few weeks after we met. I asked Cushla what she thought life was all about. Even then, I could sense at some level that she ‘wasn’t of this world’ and knew she would have a profound answer to my question.

‘It’s all about love,’ she said simply. ‘I knew that as a little girl,’ she added. She never changed her view on the all-importance of love, nor was she just talking —she steadfastly lived by its tenets all her life. (It’s apt that her name, Cushla, an Irish term of endearment, taken from the original phrase ‘A chuisle mo chroí,’ translates to ‘vein or pulse of my heart’).

     Although inspired by her spirituality and service to others, I  was still distracted by what this world had to offer. But when she died at the relatively young age of 51, I finally woke up and realised that this present life is but a brief window of opportunity to invest in what will last for eternity. ‘If God exists and there is eternal life, what should I focus on now? I asked myself.

Standing at the ‘threshold of eternity’

When one is faced with an important and difficult decision, Pope Francis’s advice is to imagine standing before Christ at the ‘threshold of eternity’ because that is what ultimately matters.

Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Angelus address in November 2021, the pope urged people to reflect on whether their time is spent focusing on transitory things or ‘the ultimate things that remain.’

‘Brothers and sisters, let us ask ourselves: what are we investing our lives in? On things that pass, such as money, success, appearance, and physical well-being? … When our time comes ... we have to leave everything behind,’ the pope reminded the pilgrims. Then he put to them what they should invest in:

‘The Word of God warns us today: This world will pass away and only love will remain,’ he said.

When he added the following words, he reminded me of Cushla’s life of love and service: ‘When we see a person who is generous and helpful, meek, patient, who is not envious, does not gossip, does not brag, is not puffed up with pride, does not lack respect, this is a person who builds Heaven on earth.’

The pope acknowledged those who do good may not make headlines or receive any recognition for their good efforts, but he underscored that ‘what they do will not be lost because good is never lost. Good lasts forever.’

Resources:

As a reminder of the transience of things and what matters, I recommended this poem by Michael Josephson: https://whatwillmatter.com/2011/10/what-will-matter-745-3.