My derivative life....

Derivative \De*riv"a*tive\, a. [L. derivativus: cf. F. d['e]rivatif.]

Obtained by derivation; derived; not radical, original, or fundamental; originating, deduced, or formed from something else; secondary; as, a derivative conveyance; a derivative word.

........or.........

Derivative \De*riv"a*tive\, n.

1. That which is derived; anything obtained or deduced from another.


There are times when it pains me to admit that I have never had an original thought in my entire life.

I have never produced an original work of art.

Even my children are not of my own creation.

I lead a derivative life.

I didn't intend to live this way.

When I was younger, I desired to create a radical, one of kind life. I wanted to be original, vibrant and explosively alive; but something happened. Instead of me being in control of my own life, life turned on me, grabbed me by my ankles and started whipping me around like a rag doll. My dreams of creating a unique and one of kind life slipped away from me in the school of hard knocks.

But wait, here is where my story changes...

Something radical did happen to me in recent years. One cold, winter morning, alone at my kitchen table, coffee cup in hand, I encountered something explosively alive, charged with creative power, and characterized by relentless love.

I encountered the living Christ.

At that moment, my life was seized by a love I cannot begin to describe to you. In many ways, my life has not changed. I'm still not much of an original thinker, my art is, well, it is what it is; and my children....they are gifts to be cherished, not chattel to be manipulated and controlled.

So, in essence I still lead a derivative life. The difference is, I'm no longer held in the grips of cruel fate and being pounded into the hard earth of this cold world. No, I'm walking hand in hand with the Creator of the universe; and ours is a much different, albeit derivative, story.

It no longer pains me to admit that I lead a derivative life, because my life is derived from the living presence of our living God.

I would choose a life characterized by mercy, compassion and love, over a one of kind, original, any day.

But that's me in Christ, or Christ in me, I'm not sure which; either way, "Thank you Jesus! Thank you for my derivative life!"