One of my favorite poems is Walt Whitman’s “O Me! O Life!”
The best part of it, for me, is this:
…That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
— “O Me! O Life!”, from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
In the movie, Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating (played by the late Robin Williams) reads this poem to his class and then asks, “What will your verse be?” Thought provoking, eh?
So, what will your verse be? What will my verse be? What will we contribute to this thing called life? Why are we here? What seeds will we plant? What legacy will we leave?
Let’s take a gander at the Word for answers to this. In Exodus 9:16, part of the Bible known as the Law, it says “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
If our purpose is to have God’s name proclaimed throughout all the earth, people have to actually know God. And to know God, they have to see him. Because God is not in human form, his spirit lives in those of us he has chosen to be his royal priesthood. So, it is us who are to show God to others. And because God is love, the best way to show God to others is to love them.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world… We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
— 1 John 4:13–21
So, let’s be obedient to our calling, and contribute our verse in love, “…with actions and in truth”. (1 John 3:18)