Your Own Day

One hun­dred years from now, God lets you peer down from heaven to see how things have gone since you left. One of the things you notice is that the whole world acknowl­edges a spe­cial day every year with your name attached to it. That’s right, along with Christ­mas, Easter, Pres­i­dents Day, Labor Day, and Memo­r­ial Day is a day ded­i­cated to you. Peo­ple world­wide stop to pon­der your life.

Have you ever won­dered if or why they might do that? Whether you rec­og­nize it or not, it could be in the mak­ing. For­get the odds and focus on why that might be. One of your small­est actions may set in motion a world rev­o­lu­tion. If you grasp the rea­son Jesus used sow­ing and reap­ing in his para­bles so often, you will acknowl­edge this possibility.

Most peo­ple dra­mat­i­cally under­es­ti­mate their lives. We see our­selves as fringe, mar­gin­al­ized, for­got­ten, mun­dane, or just not all that impor­tant. What I am sug­gest­ing is not an ego trip, but an aware­ness of the pos­si­bil­i­ties. I really do not think that the names in the Bible got there as a result of ego. They got there as a mat­ter of God’s providence.

Each per­son on this planet fights a unique set of spir­i­tual issues. Those that fight with all of their heart, mind, body, and soul are often passed over by the pop­u­lar cul­ture — one that is mes­mer­ized by an imag­i­nary “elite” (shal­low by def­i­n­i­tion). While you live this life, you really do not know the full con­se­quences of your actions. You can­not see the piece of the grand puz­zle called your life while you are here.

Live so that the whole world will be glad that you were here. Jesus died as one lit­tle rev­o­lu­tion­ary among many (but not as a vio­lent one). He lived in a remote and for­got­ten lit­tle place. His friends were just com­mon peo­ple. It is what God did with his life that really mat­ters to all of the rest of us.

This is not about seek­ing fame. It is about just being your best self. Human actions echo in eter­nity. All things are con­nected. Happy (your name) day! Look what God did through you with­out your even know­ing it!