BY CRYSTAL TINGLE
There are seasons in life that really make you second-guess yourself… your purpose…your contribution to being on this earth…being in this world. A conundrum of existence whereby there are those moments that define you as more than spectacular and those moments that reduce you to worthless if you allow. And then there are those moments when you just need reassurance…a gentle reminder that you are doing okay somewhere in between the great and the worthless.
I had one of those moments not too long ago. I went to hear a speaker who was quite the little powerhouse. She kept using the word “anthem.” She would ask, “ What is your life’s anthem?” In other words, what do we want the song of our life to sound like? What kind of music do people hear when our anthem plays? What do the lyrics say?
My life’s anthem? Hmmm. That jolted me as I am in a season of reflection, having just turned the young age of 50. Whoa! Hard to type! But thinking about her question caused a pause in me. A very reflective pause. What have I used these last 50 years to accomplish? Thoughts lately have been ones of waste… spitting in the wind…especially when I allow myself to compare my life to another. But have I wasted it? Have you? What if this is just another issue of comparison overload?
I have a tagline in my email signature that says, "I believe every person is spectacular! But sometimes before others believe it about us, we have to first believe it about ourselves!" This tag is not to imply that we should be proud or boastful in those great moments where we feel worthy to exist, but simply to believe that maybe our life’s anthem means more than what we even believe it to be... even in those moments of not-so greatness. Maybe we are singing the wrong song. Maybe we are trying too hard to sing someone else’s, thereby always feeling like we have fallen short. Maybe our song is about the wrong things instead of the things that should matter. Maybe we make our song too much about things that burn up and mean nothing at the end of a life lived well. Maybe we have tried to write our song about the accomplishments of a successful business or a nice big house with a pool and a view of the bay, or that we travel and speak to hundreds of people who come to hear what we have to say, or maybe about finally being a published author.
But what if we wrote our song about just one? If we lived our whole life and made a difference that we lived to just one person, wouldn’t that be a success? The one whose life is forever changed because you lived. The one you loved with a steadfast, unselfish heart that will never be forgotten by them? The one who maybe you brought into this world and loved and fed and poured your life into, or the one who you were there for to stop them from leaving this world because you valued them and showed them their own song. The one who your child is a friend with who feels so comfy and safe at your house and you love on them like your own. The one!
We ALL have “the one” or two or three that by just waking in the morning you are making a difference in their lives. Just by saying I love you and believe in you, you are writing your song…a song that the one life you made a difference in will be singing long after the house, and the pool and the successful business are gone. The one person is worth a lifetime of living. Worth it all!
Recognizing this made me realize that I am okay with that. I am okay with my life’s anthem being about making a difference to the one… because that one will make a difference to another and that feels melodic to me. My song is still being written and the words are still being played out, but it’s going to be great…a top-of-the-charts kind of song! What will YOUR anthem sound like? What will your song say? Find your melody in the one!