Standing for the Truth and Leaving a Legacy
I was jogging one morning this week to some old-school Amy Grant; listening to a song called Children of the World on her House of Love album. It’s great – anyone who has ever thought about a child’s future can relate to its message. I’ve heard this song many times, but as I listened that particular morning, these words resonated loudly with me:
“I will stand for the truth I’ve seen, so the truth is seen in me.”
Wow; I had to back it up and listen to it again. I felt the words go right through me. Not just through my mind, but through me.
“Do I do that?” I heard myself ask. Do I stand for my truth? Do I trust my experience? Do I voice the truth I’ve seen? Do others see that truth in me?
Sensing I was onto something, I let the internal conversation continue (jogging is good for that). When do I stand for my truth? Do I limit it to safe situations (when I know others will agree)? Do I risk speaking the truth when it might mean judgment or rejection?
What is “the truth I’ve seen” anyway? Ah, now I was down to the guts of it. What truth do I carry with such conviction that it is “seen in me?” What is the legacy that I want to leave my children and all the children of the world?
Though all of the answers weren’t clear to me that morning, at a deep level I felt the importance of the questions, because they represent our human experience. Amy Grant begins the song this way:
“Every life; every beating heart has a searching soul inside.
Ever needing; ever seeking out the meaning to life.”
And so it is. That truly is one of the truths I want to stand for: to embrace the soul’s lifelong desire to search and seek; and to marvel at the mystery as much as the answers.
The truths that we stand for shape the legacy we leave behind. What are yours?