Isn't that a fun word?The dictionary.com definition of this word is: "making marks that cannot be erased, removed, forgotten, or the like: indelible ink." Like permanent? Kinda. If something is permanent, it means it's long-lasting. It's meant to last a really long time. Indelible, in addition to sounding pretty neat, is something that cannot be removed or erased. It's there.
Becca and I used to write notes to one another on the bathroom mirror with a dry-erase marker. We'd wish each other a happy morning or put an important task up there. Once we had tired of the messages covering our mirror, we just wiped them off. They seemed gone, until the steam from the next morning's shower made their outlines evident. The ink of the marker had been wiped away, but what it had said was still there.
A dry-erase marker isn't the best example for the word indelible. It can be wiped away, and I'm pretty sure the outlines stop showing up after awhile. But my point is that the meaning of the word indelible goes further than just the surface. It lasts a long time.
God's love is indelible, His forgiveness is indelible, His mercy is indelible, His righteousness, patience, goodness, faithfulness... God is indelible.
What I'm asking is this: If I were to die this afternoon, would the mark that I leave on the world have any significance whatsoever? Do I love other people in such a way as that they see HIS indelible love? Am I forgiving like Christ forgave? Am I showing mercy? Am I being selfless?
Am I investing in things that are long-lasting? Am I loving, serving, showing mercy, forgiving...? If not, I'm not really doing what I'm supposed to be doing because I'm not involved in the truly important things in life. I myself do not have the ability to be indelible on my own. I'm not that great. God is great and He lives in me. Will that be shown in the way I live? It should, but it's my choice.
Because He is, so I must be.
For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
Romans 14:7-8
i love your thoughts lindsay dearest. reading them makes me miss you even more though!
ReplyDeleteI have never heard that word before. i believe you will eternally be my grammar authority. :) I like it a whole lot though. Indelible.
Em and I have been talking about the word "worthwhile" a lot as of late. Seems like people did things and were a lot more worthwhile back in the day... now we waste our time on the silliest things, leaving hardly any room for things that are worthwhile.
But, am I reflecting God's "indelibleness"? yikes... that is a question indeed!
oh... wouldn't it be great to sit down with a cup of some hot beverage and talk with you!! maybe soon! (i dearly hope so)
love ya! sorry for this terribly long comment. :P love ya!