So What

Albert Einstein was a genius, there is no doubt about that.  In 1905 while working as a clerk in the Swiss Patent office he wrote three landmark scientific papers that changed the world.  In one he explained how the motion of gases is related to the motion of atoms.  In a second he explained how light energy can generate electricity which eventually led to the development of photocells.  Then the third was called the theory of special relativity which came to the conclusion E=mc².   So, yeah, he was pretty smart.

It seems that Albert Einstein was a great guy if you weren't actually related to him.  He had a wife who he left to take care of their sons while he went off to do his things.  They divorced and he eventually remarried.  He had almost no relationship with his sons.  The sons once commented that going through life with the name Einstein does set up fairly high expectations.  

I wonder if Albert Einstein ever regretted his decisions.  He made great discoveries, there is no doubt about it.  I wonder if he ever questioned whether he would have preferred a life as husband to his first love and father to his children.  I don't know the answer to that question.  But there is this saying that says no one on their death bed ever wishes that they had spent more time at work.  There are things that we do to sustain life and there are those things that we live for.

There are countless stories of the person who rises to the top of their profession but at the cost of their relationships.  The look from the summit and they are all alone.  The story is so familiar, it is almost cliche. 

Watch this clip from Pastor Lowell.

If I don't have love, I have nothing, I am nothing, I achieve nothing.  We can do the right things for the wrong reasons and in the end, without love in our lives, our great accomplishments amount to a big so what.