Letting Meaning Flow Into Purpose

As Steindl-Rast says, purposeful and meaningful are different and can be united.  Purposeful means goal-directed, having a goal that I want to accomplish.  Meaningful means something has significance to me.  I can be purposeful about something that is meaningless to me.  Something can be meaningful to me and I do nothing about it.  Meaningful and purposeful are united when I am purposeful or goal-directed about something that is meaningful or significant to me.  I don't know of a personal near death experience, other than everyday living, but my wife was very near death, and my responsiveness was probably greatly selfish as I was sad and scared as I wanted her to continue to be bodily with me, and worried about my being without her.  She lived, is well, and we go on, I am happy to say.  For me, death precipitates thinking about what is meaningful to me, what it is I want to do, and stirs some urgency to be more purposeful about what is meaningful to me as I am more sharply aware that the big death is coming closer every day.

 The big death is actually the beginning of life!  Until born to Him, I have yet to live!  (We are never bodily apart from those we love)

 Actually, Amy, we may never be apart spiritually from others, but bodily is one way we are often apart from others.