Feb 19
4
Is This Relevant?
Relevance
rel·e·vance | \ ˈre-lə-vən(t)s \
Definition of relevance
1a: relation to the matter at hand
b: practical and especially social applicability : PERTINENCE giving relevance to college courses
2: the ability (as of an information retrieval system) to retrieve material that satisfies the needs of the user (from Merriam Webster online dictionary)
In a phone call just before going to bed last night I was asked if I would “pray” about something. I told the man that I would, since it was a rather “off the wall” request, he asked me if I was sure that I would.
My response because of the way I interpreted his request, was, “I promise I will, I’m never afraid to ask about anything, nothing is right or wrong, except to those who believe it is.”
I did ask and I knew that the answer which was appropriate for me would be forthcoming. When I awakened this morning the request was still on my mind, just as I assumed that was the caller’s intent – consciously or otherwise.
Sitting on the side of the bed in a haze (what else at 4:15 in the morning?), “RELEVANCE” is the thought that came clearly into my mind.
“Relevance to what,” I asked – and my mind went to purpose and meaning. Being a writer, I immediately thought about my own declared purpose that keeps me motivated for living NOW in what I refer to and mean as “eternal life” and if I was being given something that might be of interest to readers.
That set me off on a journey of rather painful, self-absorbed introspection. I thought of one of my favorite Brad Cullen books I had written, The Unrecognized You Discovered, What Now? I realized, anew, that I had written it for me, no wonder it is my favorite!
I thought of all I had learned this past 12 months culminating in a renewed sense of purpose during and after sharing with a small group of people in Stephenville, Texas for four days, just a couple weeks ago and who had been reading my books and following my articles on one of our websites for several years.
Just now, as I was shaken out of my reverie to get back to relevance, I realized what the word was all about and why I’d just been taken down the path of, again, painful introspection – sprinkled with some nice memories, such as what occurred during my visit to Texas.
RELEVANCE – just as with the referenced book …and the reason it is my favorite is that it is most relevant to ME, because I wrote it FOR ME, whether consciously or otherwise.
What now? Back to the request that precipitated all of this. I finally have clarity, being involved in it would not be aligned with my declared purpose for being on this planet, and would cause untold conflict and misery – Thank you, very much for the request to pray about it, because asking the teacher within and beyond me is what brought me to clarity and the happiness that being aligned with MY purpose provides.
I wondered if I’d ever written anything about relevance on the website …sure enough quite a bit; and this story also came up, the truth of which can be corroborated by the man in the story who came to me for advice: