3. Transcend

Earlier in the year I read Michelle Obama's memoir, Becoming, and I was captured by the line:

"The idea was we were to transcend, to get ourselves further... They encouraged it. We were expected not to just be smart but to own our smartness- to inhabit it with pride." Michelle Obama (Pg. 40, Becoming).

It was an idea that plagued my mind days after reading. The phrase was absorbed in the mystery of the word "Transcend". To rise above the limits, to surpass and exceed what has already been. The word brings me to two conclusions: The first being that for generations, upon generations, upon generations people want the best for their people, and the second thought is a reminder that we are an embodiment of those generations. This mysterious word honours both conclusions.

The histories of your predecessors depend on their desires. Your ancestors dreamt as all people do, and whatever that may have looked like during their day- they would have had a desire for you (as their offspring) to be better. To have a better life than the one they had known, to better expand your knowledge, or grasp a better career. This is transcending.

Their lives a puzzle, placing pieces and making decisions with you in mind. Layers and layers were built upon to fabricate and weave together the beautiful tapestry of you. They plan out their lives rearranging and making messes. These messes created towers, and they were built for you, towers of inheritance and traits and habits. My grandparents' towers looked like planted seeds of faith; my mother's towers were based on grounded values. I wouldn't be their person I am without them, and I am so grateful to have embraced their lessons. Take everything in. Breathe in every essence of their wrinkled newspaper skin and breathe out a new wave of change and listened experience.

Layers and layers were built upon to fabricate and weave together the beautiful tapestry of you.

We, as their descendants, can either listen and learn or experience and learn. This is also transcending. Where it becomes a paradigm of the decisions you make. Often in present day society, we aimlessly forget that our decisions matter. We have developed a YOLO attitude, where life is a checklist of "I Dare Yous" to complete, because why not? You Only Live Once? We continue to forget the beauty and weight of the revelation that- everything is generational. We take and take and take from the generation above, to give and give and give to the next generation. It means that living in your purpose is not something that we should take so lightly. Living aligned with what you hold dear is important. Living with your own actions and thoughts is something you will have to own and take responsibility for. The habits we create are jewelled heirlooms that are gifts to our children. Though not everything we gift may be a blessing, we also pass down scars and past grievances of broken relationships. Poet and recording artist, Amir Sulaiman, says it simply, "You will be someone's ancestor. Act accordingly." What you do, the values you keep, the habits you create matter. You matter.

"But you should all constantly boil over with passion in seeking the higher gifts. And now I will show you a superior way to live that is beyond comparison!" 1 Corinthians 12:31 (TPT)

"The idea was we were to transcend...We were expected not to just be smart but to own our smartness- to inhabit it with pride." When we are able to be all we are meant to be and own it- it is there where we transcend. Therefore, own every opportunity given to you and inhabit it all with pride. This word, inhabit, is active. It is alive. You are supposed to live in it and occupy it. God has presented us all with spiritual gifts, He encourages us in 1 Corinthians 12:31 to have a passion so great for using, inhabiting, and seeking those higher gifts that it is exuded out of us. Paul writes about how we should have a passion for these gifts so great that it cannot simply be contained. The verse also brings comfort and reveals a path that is beyond comparison. A path that corresponds to transcendence. A path, Paul later explains, that is forged by love and compassion. Without love, your gifts are reduced to the annoyance that is the "...hollow sound of nothing more than a clanging cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1). You are more than that, so be more than that. Do not belittle yourself by forsaking love. Know where you have come from and know where you are going. Go further, push boundaries, become more.

Lead with love and transcend.

Laurissa Xx