In addition to our many resources that accommodate The View From The Rocking Chair book, Matt and Chantal have put together a series of 16 videos to help you or your small group go even deeper into this study.
Available in: Digital Downloads | DVD | Digital Downloads + DVD
Imagine yourself on the deck of a log cabin nestled in the Rocky Mountains.
You’re watching a summer sunset light up a spectacular vista spread out before you. You’re sitting in a rocking chair, occasionally rocking back and forth, soaking in the scenery and marveling at how the setting sunlight transforms the scene before you every five minutes.
It’s perfectly quiet.
While you’re in good health, you’re in your 80s, so you know that you’ve lived the lion’s share of your life already.
As you take in the sunset, you note the parallel in your own life.
You’re indeed in the sunset of your days on earth. You begin to think back over your eight-plus decades of life and honestly evaluate what you’ve lived for, what you’ve invested in, how you’ve spent your time, talent and treasure.
As you sit in that rocking chair, what will you care about most?
What will you not care about at all?
Don’t rush past this, carefully think about these questions.
One of the goals of this study is to help you get to the rocking chair without regrets and, instead, filled with gratitude, joy and peace, because you’ve lived for the things that matter most.
To accomplish this, we want to help you develop clear vision for what you will care about most at the end of your life.
What will you care about at the end?
We have a family friend who works as a nurse on a cancer ward, and regularly spends time with those who are terminally ill.
During a discussion on what people care about, she said, “This is what people talk about then they know they don’t have much time left. They tell me to spend time with my family, cherish my kids, love my husband. They know what matters, so they tell me how I should live.”
These patients declare what eventually all of us will see when we reach the end of our lives, relationships will be more important than everything else.
Throughout the Bible, God gives us vision for what we’ll care about at the end of our lives.
When the Apostle Paul writes to the Thessalonians, he says, “For what is our hope, our joy or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.”
Notice what will not be our crown or our joy or our glory as we one day stand before God. There’s no mention of a beautiful house with pristine landscaping, becoming Executive VP or taking exotic vacations. There’s no mention of first-place trophies.
What will be our crown and our joy, our hope and our glory, when we stand before God?
People
We’ll be thinking about our spouses, our children, friends, co-workers.
- What kind of relationship did I have with them?
- How well did I love them?
- Did I share my faith with them?
You may think the rocking chair perspective is not as significant for people who are truly committed to the Lord.
Honest Reflections of Bill Graham
Billy Graham has been a wonderful example in so many ways. Because of his honesty, we can learn something from his life we might not have expected.
In his biography, he reflected on his regrets.
“Although I have much to be grateful for as I look back over my life, I also have many regrets. I failed many times, and I would do many things differently. For one thing, I would speak less and study more, and I would spend more time with my family. When I look back over the schedule I kept 30 or 40 years ago, I’m staggered by all the things we did and the engagements we kept. Were all those engagements necessary? Was I as discerning as I might have been about which ones to take and which to turn down? I doubt it. Every day I was absent from my family is gone forever.”
The Reverend Billy Graham’s frank reflection encourages us to adopt the view from the rocking chair so we can make decisions from the best vantage point and steer clear of these kind of regrets.
What would it be like if every day we thought about what we’ll care about most at the end of our lives?
If every day we made our choices reflecting the perspective we’ll have in the rocking chair, what would our lives look like?
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