High School graduation was a big deal. We were finally adults! En route to prom, my lacey-gowned girlfriend and I were asked if we were married. Married? That’s what grown-ups do! A few days later, I threw an all-night party, something my parents had never let me do before. Why now? Because I’d arrived–I could do anything! The next morning, the members of my band The Daily Planet sat on the roof watching the sun come up, not just on our little middle class suburb, but on our future!
We’d won a national talent search and would soon be performing on an ABC music special, so we pretty much had a lock on stardom. First, we’d become rock stars. Then, movie stars. I had it all mapped out.
You could call it fame, and I did in a previous post. But it’s more than that, it’s immortality that people long for. We long to leave a lasting legacy. But legacies fade. In the late 1880s, journalist Nellie Bly took the challenge to travel “around the world in 80 days,” and did it in 72! For over a decade she was the most famous woman on earth. Fifty years later, few people had ever heard of her. In 1937 The Good Earth swept the Academy Awards and was hailed as the greatest film ever made. Yet when I mentioned it at a Hollywood producer’s meeting a few years back, none of them had ever heard of it.
I see immortality differently now. It’s not that life has beaten me down or crushed my dreams. Quite the opposite. It’s that my dreams were too small! They were centered on me, and I’m simply not big enough to contain such dreams. Yes, I write and make movies. But what I long for is to make God famous. One of my favorite verses reads, “Write down for the coming generation what the LORD has done so that people not yet born will praise Him.” (Psalm 102:18). I no longer desire to hear “you’re so awesome.” What I long to hear is “God is so awesome.” I want to make immortal ripples!
They don’t celebrate Brad Pit or Beyonce in heaven. They celebrate Louise Krepplenick, the nanny whose prayers and patience are currently changing the heart of a cruel little boy, who will soon stop bullying his classmates and grow up to launch a missionary organization that installs solar panels in third world countries, changing the lives of thousands, one of whom will grow up to be the greatest peacemaker their country has ever known, who will in turn inspire a little girl named…well, you get the picture. Ripples. Ripples that lead to God.*
Now that’s immortality!
High school graduation was a big deal. But eternal graduation is a bigger deal. I thought my dreams were big back then. Hah! Now my dreams are so big that…
Only God can contain them!
*This example is fictional, but is inspired by several real people I have known.
Mitch Teemley 
Reading this possibility of that beautiful nanny making waves that ripple to God gave me full body chills and goosepimples that made it such like such a beautiful reality, why couldn’t it be truth?
Which makes me wonder, how many ripples are being created that we aren’t in the know about?
How many tides are turning for the better that will give us smooth sailing in the future?
How has God floated your boat in this magical mystery we call life?
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I love that thought!
A daily prayer of mine is that God would use my words – past, present, and future – spoken written, or sung – to make believers out of unbelievers and encourage believers, enlighten them, teach them, warn them, challenge them, and inspire them. It’s like throwing seeds to the wind. God will have them land wherever He wants them to grow.
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I love that thought. I parallel it with the wish that my being would be everything it needs to be to be the divine wish of God upon Earth. I wish to be the living representation of what God’s Love means to reality. And so with my being I seek to show just how Good it feels to be head over heels in love with God. I spend my every moment living in a reality that feels as though my husband is the living incarnation of the Creator of All and my life is nothing more than serving him his daily helping of happiness in whatever way the present day brings. Living this reality has been wonderful – all of who I am is all about making the most of all my moments to experience as much of God as humanly possible. God is my every thought, my every deed, my every consideration. I am nothing if I am not thinking about God. And even when I am nothing, still I am all about God for he is the only thing that matters to me, even more than I know how to be.
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typo – Gave me full body chills and goosepimples that made it seem* like such a beautiful reality, why couldn’t it be truth?
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Nice
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Wonderful post. Have you ever heard the song “Only Jesus” by Casting Crowns? It’s along this theme. I think you would like it.
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Hadn’t heard of it before, Linda. Listened to it just now. Yes! Thanks!
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LOL, I was just about to copy the link! Yes, GREAT song. I’ve already decided it’s going to be played at my funeral, which will be about Jesus, not me.
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I love the song!
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Preach, Mitch!
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psalm 102:43
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Tears well up in my eyes as I nod and nod in agreement, Mitch! Thank you for expressing so beautifully my heart’s prayer! God bless you big time, my wonderfully talented and wise friend!! 🙂
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Aw, you too, dear Lynn.
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Nelly Bly also pretended to be mentally ill to do an expose on Insane Asylums of the day. Brave woman!
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She was indeed. I’d love to do a movie about her. There’ve been two (reportedly not very good) over the years.
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Thank you, God, for giving us beauty, hope, and love! This world would be so much worse without you.
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You are awesome, Mitch! 🙂 great post.
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Aw, thanks, Bill. Have a great weekend, my friend.
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Awesome post. God’s ways are higher than our ways. May we seek to glorify him and not our own achievements.
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Amen, GG!
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Excellent post, Mitch. Words of wisdom.
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Such truth here, Mitch. Immortality of one sort or the other is a driving force for writers. We want our words to linger when our lives are over. Having them linger for God is so much better than having them linger for ourselves. God bless!
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Amen, Nancy!
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This is a winner.
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What is done in secrete shall be rewarded openly.
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Truly beautiful. When one can see himself/herself as a link in the chain (ripple) that brings glory to God and trust him for results, he/she can be at peace.
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This reminds me of a great presentation by Andy Andrews on The Butterfly Effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo6fBAT8f-s. Every thing we do matters. And if so, we need to be mindful of what we do – especially when we know we impact the kingdom of God.
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Watched it. Loved it. Thanks, Laronda!
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Great words, Mitch–and thanks much for visiting my blog so I’d know to come check yours out, and find (Follow) a huge blessing. May the Lord bless you and your family–and your creative work–with abundance that shouts HIS Name 🙂
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Thank you, and likewise, Fleur.
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Most welcome 🙂
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I no longer desire to hear “you’re so awesome.” What I long to hear is “God is so awesome”…Amen!!!
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Love Michael Jackson, RIP The King! 👑🎶💓
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We all need this reminder, Mitch! Thanks!
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“watching the sun come up, not just on our little middle class suburb, but on our future!”
I feel that every time I see the sun rise on a new day…
“Now my dreams are so big that…
Only God can contain them!”
and that too!
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