Making the most of life

Disclaimer before I begin. I am not chas v'shalom implying that the picture on the right is indicative in any way, shape or form of the appearance of the avos. That being said.......

In this week's parsha when Yaakov comes down to Egypt, Paroh asks him what appears to be a simple question, "kama yemei shenei chayecha?" or "how old are you?". Yaakov's response is anything but simple "yemei shenei megurai shloshim um'as shana, m'at veraim hayu yemei shenei chayai, vlo hisigu es yemei shenei chayei avosai beymei megureihem", loosely translated (in the Stone edition) as "The days of my sojourns have been a hundred and thirty years. Few and bad have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the life spans of my forefathers in the days of their sojourns." Simple question, complicated answer.
I heard what I think is a beautiful explanation from Harav Asher Weiss shlita.
He points out a few other interesting pesukim and then ties them all together.
When the torah mentions the death of the avos and imahos it uses an interesting language:
"Vayihyu chayei Sarah meas shana v'esrim shana v'sheva shanim, shenei chayei Sarah"
"V'aleh yemei shenei chayei avraham asher chai, m'as shana, vshivim shana v'chamesh shanim"
Why the repeated use of the word "chayei". In each case, it's duplicated in the pasuk.
Also we notice that Paroh asked Yaakov about "chayecha" and Yaakov answers using both the term "megurai" and "chayai". One last question. No matter how bad Yaakov had it, it's hard to understand how or why he would complain and gripe to Paroh about his life.
Harav Weiss answers as follows. The word "chai" doesn't just mean living. It means productive living, lshem shamayim. The torah is testifying that in the case of Avraham and Sarah, their lives were "X" amount of years and each and every one of those years was used productively. When Yaakov was asked the question directly about himself, his tmimuskeit (is that a word) and anivus, prevented him from answering what his own years of chayim were. So we should translate Yaakov's response to Paroh, as follows: "I have existed/sojourned on this earth for 130 years. Compared to my father and grandfathers lives, my productive years pale by comparison." However, looking ahead to next week's parsha, the torah tells us, "Vayechi Yaakov ...., Vayehi yemei Yaakov, shenei chayav, sheva shanim, v'arbaim um'as shana".
Yaakov may have been an anav and said about himself that not all of his years were productive, however, at the end of his life, the torah testifies to us that all of his years were truly productive years, l'shem shamayim."
We obviously have our work cut out for us. Let's make the most out of life.