You are!

I have finally watched "The King's Speech" in these wee hours. I am simultaneously ashamed and delighted - ashamed that it took me so very many years to get around to it; delighted at the bucket of wisdom and inspiration it has doused me with (along with some Queen's English, of course). And then at exactly the time I need to be showered with these things. I am sharing these thoughts, here, with you. I hope they are the same breath of fresh air for you, the spark needed for dying kindling.

You might not be the first choice (or second, for that matter) for what you are doing - according to yourself and the rest of the world. They might have a say in what happens; they might not. They might try to actively prevent you. They might prefer to try and diminish you behind your back. You may find yourself questioning your reasoning and your capabilities daily - without them having to give you any input. AND yet you cannot prevent the passion burning inside you. You cannot completely block out the voice that keeps repeating softly: "If not me, then who?"

Follow that voice, that passion, to whatever scary destination it might be leading you to. No matter what doubt and doubters have to say. It is where you need to be. It is where you are needed.

You might have an instinctual aptitude for something, an instinctual ability so strong that it scares those with the best qualifications and the right connections. Do not rest on this instinctual advantage - hone the skill like you would any other. But then do not be afraid to use it, even in the face of resistance. Do not wait for permission. Do not wait for somebody else to allow you. AND then always use it as your gut - your instinct - tells you to. Do not be unnecessarily limited by pomp and tradition. Do what you know you must, in the way you have been created and moulded to do it.

Embrace what you fear but know to be true about yourself. Do not let anything or anyone stand in your way. Work hard. Work honestly. In this way you will be true to the self God created you to be. And in that truthful living, beauty and change will be allowed into the world...little by little...

You have a voice! AND you have a right to be heard! Now use it!  

Making waves

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.” - Bruce Lee “Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” - John Wooden

How often the words “making an impact” and “changing the world” have come up in conversations these past few weeks. Conversations about life’s meaning; about what living with purpose entails; about when you know that what you are doing is good enough. The funny thing about these conversations is the fact that “meaning”/”impact” is so often connected to (I want to go as far as say melded with?) numbers – my life can only mean something if it impacts lots and lots of people. So we are only good enough, we are only making an impact, if we are reaching the whole world. If every person with us in this world (well, at least the vast majority) doesn’t know who we are or what we do, we can consider ourselves meaningless. I myself have to admit to suffering from this Oprah/Mother Theresa complex every so often – even though I am told that what I do adds meaning, if the whole world isn’t saying it, it’s as if it never happened.

This has me thinking – when I’m not thinking how useless I am because I haven’t established world peace, of course – about what the value is I see in such a big life? What any of us see in such a big life? Lots of people know you then, yes, and lots of them will probably admire you. You might even be rich and be able to throw resources into all sorts of causes that fix many things. But how does that impact your life? What does it mean when you are on your own? What does it mean to all the many people that know of you when they are alone? Because, in the end, life and meaning is about those times – those times when there is only you. Of course, immediate tension arises in me, for I follow a God whose one desire is to impact hearts. And having such a big life/influence certainly touches people’s hearts.

But in what way? And how permanently? Is my helping reaching and changing their innermost thoughts? Am I strengthening them for the whole of the life they are living? Because isn’t that the change God is talking about? Well, never mind talking about, isn’t that the change God focused on when He walked among us? He was not a celebrity. He had no means. He had no grand schemes. And yet, He changed the world forever. How? By really investing His all into a handful of people and changing their hearts and minds.

It sounds much less exciting, yes. It frustrates every ounce of my (every one of us’) secret celebrity dream. But then, when it is late and I am alone, I am again reminded of the question – Is being well known the same as being known? The same as knowing? And, in the quiet, I know…  

“To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest men and women and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one’s self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded.” - Bessie Anderson Stanley