I was once told by a man that no matter how important a person is, when they are gone, they are replaced like water replaces a hand after it is removed from a pond. While there may be ripples of it being there, it is, by necessity, replaced almost instantly.
This may be an official quote that I’m wrongly attributing, but this is where I first heard it. Some may argue with it. Thinking that some may be important enough to upset this balance. But in reality, even if they are important, they are replaced. Whatever they were doing is filled in. Even if it’s filled in by nothing, the space that they once held is now held by a different thing.
The only thing that gives us purpose on this earth is the life that is eternal. We should not get caught up in the pond thinking that anything we do will have any impact on the world. Instead, we should have the mindset not to have our impact on the world, as it will undoubtedly be lost after only a generation or two. Instead, we should make it our aim to have an impact outside of ourselves that lasts for a thousand generations.
Not our impact, but His.
Thank you for this reminder. It becomes more real every day.