Shall We Embark?

I recently felt an urge to journal daily, partly as a personal cleansing process and partly to impart what little wisdom I've gained through my experiences. We each have so much valuable knowledge that too often we leave stored in the halls of our minds, waiting for some occasion to pull out a dusty volume. But for most people, that occasion never arrives.

I believe that life is a continual process of learning, a journey. We learn some things quickly. Other things... not so quickly. Some things we learn from watching others. Some things we must learn on our own terms. Sometimes we learn the right things to do, and at times we learn exactly how not to do them. Some conclusions can be made with only our input. But some require the assistance of another. We are all in this journey together. Nothing, not age, not gender, not race, or social labels prevent us from learning from one another.

That is the purpose of this blog. I want to share the things I do know, learn the things I don't, and change a couple lives in the process. Life takes us down some crazy paths, some dark and scary, some steep and dangerous. And at the end of life, we leave behind nothing but the fruits of our journey.

These journeys have been going on for thousands of years. It's overwhelming to consider how many have begun and ended over the course of time. But what I find more profound is how few of these journeys are actually remembered. It can be rather depressing to think that a hundred years from now, no one will remember my name. I want to leave a legacy. I want to make an impact. But I am no Mother Teresa. I will not be a U.S. president. I will not change the world on a grand scale. Or maybe I will. Just not in the way that I think it should happen.

As we grow, I believe we have a responsibility to water the lives around us, to pass the baton, to add a piece of the puzzle to another's picture. Our names may be forgotten. Our lives may fade from memory. But we leave our legacy nonetheless. We leave a part of ourselves with another, and inevitably they leave their mark on another. This is the way that God intended it.

The purpose of living is not to be remembered, but to give ourselves over to our Maker. Our heirlooms are not our names, our famous deeds, or our admirable qualities. Our legacy is not even our own. What truly matters in life is that we shine our Light as brightly as it will shine so that when our candle finally burns out, there are others that will take its place.