Have I Done Any Good?

I realized today that throughout my life I've often used other people's reactions to me as a type of barometer to gauge how my life is going and how I am doing as a person. There are several problems with this approach to life. First of all, the way other people react to me is a better reflection of who they are and of the choices they are making than of who I am or of my choices. Second, other people are imperfect, and the way they react to me at any given time is often influenced by all sorts of things that have nothing to do with me at all. Third, even if other people are thinking nice things about me all the time, I often attribute negative thoughts and emotions to them that they never even had in the first place. So, all around, using other people and their reactions to me as an indication of the quality of either my life or myself is a very bad plan and makes for a terribly inaccurate barometer.

So I decided that I needed a replacement barometer for my life. What could I use in place of the reactions of others to let me know how I was doing and how my life was going? I thought of God's love first, but then I decided that's not much of a barometer, since even if I was a terrible person and doing terrible things, God would still love me. Then I thought of gauging it by how well I'm keeping commandments, but since I am also imperfect, gauging my life by how perfectly I am doing everything I am supposed to sounds like a quick way to drowned in an ocean of guilt. 

I finally hit on a replacement barometer that I feel good about. There's a song called "Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?" that we sing at church sometimes. When I thought of it, I decided that gauging myself and my life by the good I have done or have tried to do each day is a much better indicator of where I am and of how I should feel about myself and my life. I do some good each day, not always the same good, but always some good. The product of my efforts to do good will often be imperfect, and sometimes others may choose not to accept the efforts I make, but that doesn't change the fact that I tried to do good the best way I knew how to at that time. Then each day I can offer all the good I have tried to do to God and ask Him to bless and multiply my efforts and use them to further His work of salvation for His children on the earth. I offer what I can give, and then God does the rest, like when the lad offered his five barley loaves and two small fishes, and Jesus used them to feed five thousand people (John 6:9-14, King James Bible). That's how you live a good life: do what good you can each day, try to improve when you make mistakes, forgive others for their mistakes, and ask God to guide your efforts and to use them to further His divine work for His children. And that's my new barometer: What good have I done in the world today?