If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain
-Emily Dickinson
(I wrote this blog about a year ago, when I was teaching a poetry section to my children at school. Since then, it's kind of just hung around in my unpublished for no certain reason other than I never felt "right" about publishing it yet. But God reminded me of it today during a very tough moment and nudged me towards publishing it. I think now is the time for this little one to be brought to life.)
There are sometimes in this life where we are tempted to do something "big." I'm not sure what defines "big," but it's definitely something "that will be remembered." In a way, maybe we all want to be like Ozymandias from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem of the same name, who built a statue so that future generations would remember his grandeur...
...Only to find, in future generations, that his statue had crumbled, because nothing mortal lasts forever.
Despite knowing this, how many of us search after the "big" things, still?
"Big" things can look different for all of us. For me, I suppose my "big" thing would be becoming an author. I have built my hopes around getting published, of impacting lives through my writing, because I've been influenced by other people's writing. I'll never forget how a certain author revealed to me the depths of God's grace in a book, or how I've made it through bad days and my inconsequential struggles by picking up a dog-eared favorite.
Another "big" thing would be mission work. I always want to do something for God, calling out for Him to use me, but when I'm not on the mission field, I feel somehow useless, as if I've never accomplished anything or never helped anyone. I've never verbally had someone come up to me and say, "because of you, I became a Christian," so I guess I feel like I've never accomplished that "big" goal, either.
And yet another "big" is getting a significant other. Yes, I talk about how I'm single and how I've never kissed anyone before. But ever since I was a little girl, I've always desired a boyfriend/husband. Sometimes I'll even think of date ideas for the two of us, or conversations I'll want us to have, or even how good it might be to love and be loved in that capacity. I'm the type of person that, whenever I'm going anywhere, I always kind of scope the room to see if there will be any fairy tale, serendipitous meetings. And every time that my hopes are dashed, day after day, it makes me feel weary. It feels as if I'll never accomplish this "big" goal.
But as I think about the "big" things, I recall this little poem by Emily Dickinson. It isn't a long one, but its incredibly important for anyone-- especially Christians. We are not supposed to live our lives constantly chasing after a "big" thing. We do not have to strive for fame, or money, or having a multi-million dollar acting contract. We don't even have to be a martyr in some far off distant place, or move to Africa and start an orphanage. Are these things good? Undeniably. But do they have any less worth than a person who hugs a person simply because they're crying? Absolutely not.
In our focus on "big" things, sometimes we forget the lives right in front of us. Sometimes we forget to look at the person that's hurting. Sometimes we forget the simple act of a smile. I don't know how many times my heart has been breaking, and someone or something has made me laugh, or hugged me, or even smiled at me. And you know what? That stops my heart from breaking. That may not save a starving child in Africa, but it still has value. If God values each and every one of us, then how can we say that being a friend to someone in need is not important? After all: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care" (Matthew 10:29). If His eye sees even the falling of a sparrow-- or, one might say as Dickinson does, even a fainting robin-- how much more must He value the hurting soul of one of His children.
We all have a reach. We may not have done our "big" things yet, but that doesn't mean that our lives are in vain. We all have people that we can impact in one way or another every day. Every moment you live is another chance to help someone else out. Every heartbeat is a chance to stop someone else's from breaking. Every second that we are alive, we have a chance to show God in our everyday actions.
You don't need to accomplish "big" things for God to cherish you. His eye is on the sparrow, and it is our mission to share that news with everyone we can.
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