A lesson from Longfellow

Socially awkward. Quirky. Tall. Loud. Quiet. Geeky. All things that could describe me I guess. All things that could be seen as negative or positive. There's something missing from that list, though, something more important than any of those attributes: Christ. I call myself a Christian, a word that means 'little Christ'. Today in my English class we read a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called A Psalm of Life. The poem talks about leaving footprints in the sands of time so one of the response questions my teacher asked us was what footprint we want to leave. I wrote down that if I can say or do one thing that makes someone's day/life a little better then I'll have left the footprint I can be happy with. But as I thought about it a little more I realized that I don't want to leave a footprint. I don't want to be remembered. If I am truly living as a 'little Christ' then who I am won't matter, his kingdom will. I don't want people to look at me and see Maggie, I want the image of a savior who would go to the cross for them to flash across their eyes. I want the bright light of that same man walking out of the tomb to grab hold of their souls. I want my words to be the words the Lord wants said. I want my actions to be what he needs done. My prayer lately has been for God to make me a pawn on his chess board. I know that I won't be here long, but I can do something for him while I am here.

"Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."