Dear Friends
My life is able to serve as an example to others, because you have been a stout protector …. You yourself should strive in everything you do to be a good example of how to behave. (Psalm 71:7; Titus 2:7)
Graffiti mostly looks like a mindless mess – and most of it is – with content ranging from the obscene to racist, but occasionally there may be something different. Not quite Banksy but perhaps a form of art, albeit of a different kind. I can appreciate that some of the slogans and scribblings are making a statement, perhaps defiant protests against how things are, either in society or the world as a whole or something more personal. Most of graffiti is someone’s attempt, however vague, to leave their mark, to say to the world ‘I was here’.
Do any of us actually succeed in doing that – leaving our mark on the world? As I enter the final months of my life as a full-time minister, I suppose I am looking back on my 21+ years of ministry and wondering. I don’t think I have made any major significance but in smaller ways.
I know that we all make some impression, even if it just in our own immediate circle of family, friends and acquaintances. That ‘leaving a mark’ is as much about a good deed, a job well done, a comforting word or a thoughtful gesture and these can enrich someone’s life. But similarly, an unkind comment, thoughtless deed or act of pride, envy, greed or selfishness can cause untold damage and leave scars that are hard to heal.
All of use leave our mark on others in more ways than we can imagine, influencing lives for good or bad. Perhaps, like me, you can think carefully about all you do and say, and strive, with God’s help; to leave a legacy of which both we, and God, can be proud.
God bless,
Yvonne