You Are The Gift

I am hiding in the corner of a library, trying to close a thousand tabs on my devices after a very full week. Every time I close a tab, my to do list grows and I wonder, is this a waste of time? Meanwhile I find myself signing up for three more email lists of things that promise to fix my problems - meal planning, time management, leadership strategies. Now, I have a bigger problem. I am faced with more information that I can’t keep up with. All, in the name of help.

Help for what?

This life.

This one beautiful, busy, racing - life.

A few feet away the library shelf hosts books for Women’s History Month; heroes, history makers, performers, government leaders - beautiful, striking, smart women – who impacted the world as we know it with their courage, brilliance, ideas, and voices. I wonder how these women stewarded their internal lives and kept their own health, wellness, and passions afloat in the face of so many demands. I wonder if they ever hid in libraries to try to find their own head after a full week.

I thumb through a collection of stories on historic women. What do I notice? What’s the thread? What do they have in common? A lot. They share a narrative. It goes like this:

An unlikely person.

Faces adversity.

Powers through it.

Breaks through it.

Is re-born through it.

And at last – gets over themselves.

Once they are out of the center of their own lives, most often through pain, 

a wave of greatness is born through them,

as they tirelessly and courageously – serve others.

Maybe these women hid in library corners too. Maybe we all do. I don’t know, but I do know that adversity is no stranger to history makers. It is an invitation to greatness. The harrowing parts of our stories will birth legacy if we are brave to be reborn through them unto the glory and grit of service.

There is deep fulfillment in finding your way out of the center of your life. It's worth the cost. Give yourself away – to your spouse, your kids, your friend, a stranger, a beggar, a prince, a pauper, to – Christ. Maybe what matters most is not what we are accomplishing, but who we are becoming.

Who am I becoming?

A kind person, I hope.

Written March 3rd, 2023