Bill Gates, Liz Smith, and Australian cockatoos

Bill Gates has announced that he is investing $100 million in the fight against Alzheimer’s. The world’s wealthiest person is joining the fight in part because men in his family have suffered from the disease. He notes in his latest blog: “I know how awful it is to watch people you love struggle as the disease robs them of their mental capacity, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Gates’s legacy in the world of computers is assured. But one day, if the Lord tarries, every technology he invented and every line of code he wrote will become obsolete. However, if he helps defeat one of our most feared diseases, his significance will far outlast his success.

By contrast, the gossip columnist Liz Smith has died at the age of ninety-four. Famous for covering the private lives of A-list celebrities, she once said of her work: “We mustn’t take ourselves too seriously in this world of gossip. When you look at it realistically, what I do is pretty insignificant. Still, I’m having a lot of fun.”

A third news item caught my eye this morning: the yellow-crested cockatoo is wreaking havoc with Australia’s broadband network. The country spent $36 billion on this infrastructure project, but as a spokesman explains, the birds have “developed a liking for our cables . . . these birds are unstoppable when in a swarm.”

What we do today may not last or matter tomorrow. How do we leave a legacy of significance?

Live for eternity today

Life is both short and unpredictable.

Two people were killed and two others were wounded at a shooting in Atlanta over the weekend. Multiple people were stabbed inside the Mall of America in Minneapolis, leaving families and children stunned as they waited in line to see Santa Claus. An earthquake on the Iran-Iraq border killed more than four hundred and fifty people.

Scripture teaches us to “make the most of every opportunity” because “the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16 NIRV). How? For help, I’d…