Focus + Consistency = Relevance(the key to a lasting lega...

Focus + Consistency = Relevance
(the key to a lasting legacy)

I have been thinking about Psalm 1 a lot today and had some thoughts to share and a challenge to drop…even if the Psalms “aren’t your thing”. In case you aren’t familiar with my recent history, I have been in rehab when it comes to God recently and I am working on gaining a better understand of who God is, how God interacts with us and what that means for my life. That said, my approach to the Bible is that it is a book with principles and practices that have the potential to impact all people, at all times and in all walks of life.

I decided to start with Psalms as this has always been a solid collection of writings for me that speak from the heart of the author about their interactions with God, whether positive or negative, and I have noticed that there is a great deal of honesty regarding the interactions between God and the author and at all stages of life.

In the first two verses of Psalm 1, the author indicates that the person who meditates on the law of the Lord is blessed (which stems from the root “to be straight” and carries the meaning of having multiple blessings in life bestowed on them - this brings about a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction in life). I understand this to mean that the person that meditates on the Law of the Lord is satisfied in life to the point of being fulfilled - living life to the fullest (living a legacy).

So what is the Law of the Lord? From my Judeo-Christian upbringing, I understand this to be a creed or code to:

love Godlove yourselflove others

Moving on to the second set of verses, we see that consistency and relevance are additional results of meditating on the law of the lord; there will be evidences of fruit and healthy growth on the plant. The author contrasts this with a person that is not focused on the law of the Lord and lives a life disconnected from God; they will wither and fade away, blown away like the chaff (unstable and lacking value).

The final two verses of this Psalm dig even deeper into just how little value the wicked or ungodly hold…they can’t stand up to judgement nor hold a candle to those living righteous lives. In fact, their lives are lacking value to the degree that they will perish and their legacies will perish with right alongside them.

Let’s strip this from the ideology of the church or a Christian understanding and extract principles and practices that apply to everyone, everywhere. For Christians reading this please don’t stone me or see this as sacrilegious, I believe the impact and value of spiritual teachings is that they transcend time and space.

So let me break down the power of this passage:

FOCUS: I believe that meditating on the law of the Lord means to have a law or code of honor that directs life! Whether this code is based on spiritual teaching, tribal knowledge and agreement or personal manifestation is irrelevant; having a code based on values to guide and direct life is paramount to success.

What values or ethos do I hold dear?What creed or code do I live by (with my words and actions)?What guides my behavior and shapes my being as a member of society?

CONSISTENCY: The evidence of consistency in life is pretty clear - fruit! It’s all about production. It’s easy to talk a good game but, as they say, the proof is in the pudding (or as I like to say the proof is in the production!). It’s too easy to talk the talk and bullshit your way through life…at least I know it is pretty easy for me.

Where in life am I talking and not walking?What am I actually producing in life?What have I talked about doing that I have not completed?

RELEVANCE: I think this is the goal for anyone that actually gives a shit, we want our lives to count for something…we want to be relevant. When your life isn’t relevant and your legacy is unstable at best, you will be forgotten and your memory will quickly drop from the minds and hearts of others; a life without meaning or value is unable to stand against the judgement of others.

How can I add more value through my life?What impact is my legacy going to have on my family?Does my life have meaning and impact on those in my perimeter?

So let’s wrap this up: as I said a bit ago, I believe that most of us are seeking to live to the fullest and in so doing leave a legacy of value for others to experience on the daily, we want our time on earth to mean something and add value to others (to be quite frank, those that don’t feel this way are vampires and travelers in life…seeking only that which they can devour and take for themselves). In order to leave a legacy, it will take work: there will be times of self reflection and reaction; there will times of success and failure; there will be ups and downs and there will most certainly be joy and pain.

That is life! In order to ensure your life counts for something, follow this simple formula: Focus + Consistency = Relevance

When I experience moments where I feel my life has no meaning, it’s generally because my focus or consistency is off. I had a brother call me out with a simple question the other day…it cut me to the bone (and he was right to call my ass out) AND it simply came down to the fact that I wasn’t following through on something that I said I would do (my consistency was off). I’m not going to leave a legacy worth anything to anyone if I continue to bullshit my way through life without focus or consistency…and truth be told neither will you.

Find a code to live by, focus your effort - attention - energy on living by that code and in so doing leave a legacy that means something!