Murmuration

 Before you read anything, you need to two things:  Watch and listen (in that order).

1. Watch this short video. 

2. Now listen to this.

Quite randomly (ah, we all know that is never the case), I was listening to a TED Talk podcast. Periodically, they do a series called "Mind Body Spirit," and the segments are always provocative.  On this particular podcast, the poet you just listened to, Sarah Kay, recited her poem: "A Bird Made of Birds." At first, I listened halfheartedly because poetry isn't really my jam, but the more I listened, the more invested I became.  

The gist of her message - her epiphany - is this:  We humans create nothing new.  We shine a spotlight on supernaturally-inspired Divine truths.  "The Universe [God, to believers] has already written the poem you want to write." 

That one statement took my breath away. That one statement lifted a heavy load that I have carried most of my adult life right off my shoulders.

To explain, my life has been a quest, often desperate and emotional, to A) figure out why I am here, and B) figure out the legacy I'm supposed to leave.  

For the former, I can answer that with spiritual resolve.  In other words, my spiritual education has prepared me to answer that question on a cerebral level: I am here to glorify God with my entire being - thoughts, words, and actions. It's the latter that has been hissing more insistently in my ears throughout most of my adult life.  What is my legacy? How will I be remembered? What will be the proof that I existed at all? 

Those statements - "we create nothing new" and "The Universe [God] has already written the poem you want to write" - have finally provided the answer to the question.  My existence is to shine a light on Divine truths.  

For me specifically, God has created me to be an observer, a fact that has been helped/shared by the cumulative effect of my life's experiences and journey. At Divinely-inspired moments, the Holy Spirit moves me to "see" or understand things.

Likewise, I believe that God has created me to be a communicator. As others use tools to craft furniture or delicious dishes, I use words to craft messages that others may also feel and think. "But to what end?" I often challenge myself.  "What's the point? What am I supposed to DO with them [thoughts and messages]?" 

And now, the answer seems clearer: This is my legacy. This is how and why I mark time at this point and time in history.  My legacy is my obedience to God - my willingness to channel what He has given me/allowed me to see/understand to A) continue these important truths, making sure they continue, and to B) help and encourage others who are traveling life's highway at the same time as I. 

Equally liberating and profound is that NONE of these message are new.  These are the same truths that have been woven through history.  The Bible and the stories in it are individual threads of the same story that I - that YOU - continue so that the message is delivered anew to each generation.

Like I said, for me, this takes the pressure off the desperation of leaving a mark in history, and it helps to make sense of all the seemingly-senseless pain and seemingly-senseless difficulties that I have had to endure in this life.  Pain/challenge serves a purpose - I have been told that forever, but I really didn't fully understand how. 

If this is true for me, it's true for others as well.  Our pain/difficulties/challenges/epiphanies shine a light on ancient, Divine truths.  These are the vessels through which those messages - those truths - are sent.  

In the eye of the storm, we have a decision to make: To surrender and rest in Him, or to fight and become discouraged, bitter, or lost.  This is the first layer in bringing glory to God.  

The second is to reflect on the experience to extract the Divine truth that needs to be delivered - here and now - from YOU.

Equally important is framing and filtering each moment through that lens.  We don't need to actively seek it.  We just need to be open to it, to receive it, to surrender, move through it - and then share it.  Only you, only I - at this time and in this place in history - have been chosen to deliver this truth.

That is our purpose and legacy. 

No need to worry anymore. "The Universe [God] has already written the poem you want to write."