While attending college at NMSU in Kirksville, there was a religious group in the community that would visit the campus regularly and hand out pamphlets about “filling up an empty way of life.” Periodically over the years that catchphrase has come to mind.

That catchphrase leads us to ponder what we are filling up our lives with. In truth, often it’s with meaningless activities, sometimes necessarily, but other times by choice.

I am reminded of Solomon’s writings in Ecclesiastes, where he tried filling his life up with so many different things—a quest for knowledge, merriment, foolishness, drunkedness, great public works projects, acquisition of many slaves, a great number of livestock, great wealth, cultural events, had many concubines, worked hard. But ultimately he concluded that all of it was a mere “chasing of the wind.”

Especially when we’re young, it’s easy to veer off course, as we attempt to chart the course of our lives. I’m grateful for that group of Christians in the community who regularly visited the campus, handing out pamphlets to the college students. I’m also grateful for many others God sent along my way as a young adult: my Great Aunt Betty and Great Uncle Raymond Quigley, Campus Minister Roger Jespersen, Pastor Leota Moore, and Pastor Nadine Thurman. All were instrumental in helping to keep me on the right path and guiding me toward more meaningful and purposeful choices in my life.

“Filling up an empty way of life” is a call for introspection, a call for more meaningful, purposeful living.

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