A Life of Writing Footnotes

We love to take credit for the good things we do. For the cool songs we write that move people. For the moments, the skies and portraits we capture on film. For the brushstrokes, and the words, for the thoughts that spill onto paper...and computer screen. We love to be recognized for our technical prowess and business acumen. But at the end of the day, who can really claim credit for anything good?

The songs I've written that truly matter, the ones that resounded in peoples' souls -- it's like I pulled them from the air at the precise moment when my whole being was disposed to catch them. And the truths that they express existed long before I was born. The skies, the moments, the people my talented friends capture in photographs -- they all have a Creator. And long before they snapped the shot, their subjects already were, at the very least, a thought in God's mind, already in motion. The images we paint, the pieces we write, the work we do -- all our attempts at creativity, though beautiful, can only be so because they reflect things that already existed before we even noticed. And the sciences, the numbers and theories that we feel we have a hold on because of education are an attempt to map out the territory that's been there for ages.

My line of thought is this: that truth, beauty, goodness -- they already have an Author, and we're basically just making footnotes, in all our attempts at creativity and progress.

What good do I really do? What good do I actually create? I don't create anything. I echo, reflect and decipher. Mankind at its best is merely writing footnotes.

I think Jesus knew what He was talking about when He said that God is good. It's a huge statement; not just some sing-song alliteration. All our attempts at good -- they are simply us saying, "hey I noticed something that God did -- see?"

God alone is good. Not my songs. Not her dances or his cleverness. Not my friends' photos or works of art. Not our genius in industry, economics or whatever. The more we humbly understand that only God is truly good, the clearer the reflection of good, the more crisp the sound of the echo of God's glory. God alone being the true good also gives me hope. Because I'm very capable of doing the not-so-good, and even the downright bad. But when I realize that it is only God who can pour goodness into my life, He eclipses the pressure to be great. I become more content to be who I am and let God be great. And it is He who will do great things in the world.

The cool thing is that He uses us. To reflect and echo, to present our friends with a fresh new take, an inventive angle, a different color from what they've seen. God uses us the more we recognize that He's good. So keep the reflection pure. Keep the echoes clear. Keep writing accurate footnotes to the Author of everything good.