I spent some time this weekend talking about, and contemplating who I am, why I’m here and what it’s all for.
Of course, being a believer myself, I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on what it’s all for and I’m starting to get a sense of why I’m here. But the who am I part… That’s tricky.
In my line of work, and in many careers, there are achievements, credentials, awards, titles, promotions… all things we’re working towards and trying to accomplish. And that’s so easy to get caught up in. God knows I want to strive to be great. I want to push myself. I want to improve. I want to be proud of what I’ve been able to do and overcome. I know that’s how I’m wired, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing.
However, it’s so easy to get caught up in that being… me. But that’s not me. That’s not who I am.
Let me put it to you this way… the clarity came to me on this topic when I started to think with the end in mind. This is something I LOVE to do- as morbid as it might sound- to help myself gain perspective.
What will people say at my funeral? What will I have been all about?
And it came to my so strongly! I don’t want there to just have been a resume built. I don’t want to have someone read off a list of accomplishments- however impressive I might find them. I want people to get up and say, “because she was here…”
I want to have mattered to others. I want to have done something that changed those around me. I want to have influenced others positively. It’s not what we do, but who we touch. Because as much as what I’ve done DOES sound pretty impressive to some- mostly to me, let’s be honest- will that have mattered when it’s all said and done if that’s all that’s left of me?
Quite simply, no. It won’t have mattered. And no one will be impressed if that’s all there is. Especially me.
That’s not to say that who I am here has to do with impressing people. But it has everything to do with impressing UPON people, who I am.
So who am I?
Well, I hope to be an influence. A game changer. An inspiration. An example. A leader. A believer. A person of integrity. A person of unwavering faith. An empowerer. A wonderful mother. A person of humility. A person who always makes people laugh. A person of love. A person of truth. Someone I’d be proud to look down on at my funeral.
Because of what I do, I find myself having conversations regularly with people who have a lot of degrees under their belts, life experiences that they’re proud of, and perhaps several letters after their name that have defined them.
And what I can say to them is this: It’s not what you do that matters. It’s who you are. And who you are has been a wonderful achiever. And it’s okay to be proud of what you’ve done- you should be. But it’s not okay to let that pride hold you back from what you’re about to do.
God works in hilarious ways. And I would have never seen how what I’ve done in the past would have led me to what I do now and what I will do in the future. But I don’t get to know the plan, I just get to walk the path. And it’s the walk that makes me who I am, not the stops along the way.
So who are you? What defines you? What will people say about you? I know it’s time for me to start walking with the end in mind a little bit more. How bout you?