What changes people’s lives? Who are the catalysts for that change? Do they know who they are? Do they realize change is happening because of them? What is their message – their platform? Did they set out to intentionally change the lives of others? Are those changes for the best? What makes their message significant to those following them?
Relevance. I’ve been contemplating this quite a bit lately. Am I relevant? Am I one who inspires others to change? And if so, is it a change for the better? Is my message, my voice, relevant to what others are going through? Do I even have a message to begin with?
To quote Beth Moore:
“Coincidences are miracles in which God wishes that you remain anonymous. BUT, God never wants to be anonymous in your life.”
Nothing happens in life without a greater purpose. For some of us, we may never realize the relevance of our lives while we are living, or how many people we have touched with our words, our actions, our prayers. Those coincidental moments when I’ve shared something that has been pressing on my heart, and in doing so the life of another has been transformed, are not by chance. They were miracles ordained by God, and in many cases, I may never even know about it. While the role I play in the process of change may go unnoticed and anonymous, I pray that God is never anonymous in my life. It is the deep longing of my heart that God’s reflection would consistently be evident in me.
I know I mess up…A LOT. And I’m pretty good at documenting all my shortcomings too. Still, I also know it doesn’t take a perfect person to inspire, encourage or bring glory to God. It only takes a willing vessel – incapable, ill equipped, and hopelessly flawed. You know, maybe it really is for the best that we don’t know just how relevant we are! I know for myself it could so quickly go to my head. Perhaps that is why God wishes that I/we would remain anonymous.
“In so doing (in His providence) God attends not only to apparently momentous events and people but also to those that seem both mundane and trivial…Indeed, so all encompassing is God’s attention to events within creation that nothing…happens by chance.
- Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary on the providence of God.
So, for you who are changing poopie diapers, wiping spit up off of every shirt you own, cleaning up spills, teaching toddlers how to pick up their toys, potty training (that’s me right now), packing lunches every day, playing taxi driver as you shuffle your brood from one place to the next, trying to balance God, self, spouse, kids, church, school, work (oh how the list is endless), hormones and bad hair days – for you who think you are invisible to the rest of the world – You (and I). Are. Relevant! God’s hand is in the mundane and trivial just as much as the amazing and momentous. Nothing happens by chance, and where we are is right where God wants us to be. This is no coincidence.
It is God’s providence. And as we continue to walk through the daily ordinariness and routine, may we do so with understanding and fearless conviction that everything we do is relevant. Our names may never appear in a book or magazine, and we may never get a one-on-one interview with Oprah, but we all have the opportunity to impact the life of another, and perhaps be that one person’s catalyst for change.
Let us allow God to work anonymously through us. And may He never be anonymous in us!
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Your comment about chance is pretty funny. I read years ago this thing (which I might agree with) that those who believe in free will actually believe in chance and therefore are nothing more than atheists.
I think 20/20 lets you look back though and see how active he has always been in your life, every detail, including me writing this comment on your blog.
BTW Amy, you have something on your lip
You reminded me of something I read last night. In Visioneering, Andy Stanley talks about the mundane things in life in light of vision:
Now if only I knew the vision, I’d be good to go.
Yes, Relevant! Used by God! A Catalyst! Unknowingly… and sometimes knowingly. These are good words, Amy. Thank you for penning them. It so reminds me about that book… The Anonymous Years.