I think I highlighted this just because in the middle of a lot of names and assignments and positions at the gates, this one guy had something a little extra next to his name, and it made me wonder why.
The East Gate went to Shelemiah and his group. The North Gate was assigned to his son Zechariah, a man of unusual wisdom.
That little line.
A man of unusual wisdom.
That was it. The whole description. No story to back it up. No sermon he preached. No big moment they tied it to. Just this one phrase tucked into a long list of names.
But somebody knew. Somebody saw enough of his life to add that line.
It makes me wonder how he got it.
What did he do day in and day out that earned him that description? How did he show wisdom? Was it the way he handled conflict? The way he made decisions? The way he listened before he spoke? The way he treated people? The way he sought God?
We do not know. The Bible does not tell us. But somebody who watched him over time decided that line needed to be in there.
A man of unusual wisdom.
And I just sat with that for a minute.
Because if someone were writing about me, would they stop and add a line?
Would there be one phrase that just naturally fit beside my name?
And if so, what would it be?
That is a hard one to think about honestly.
We do not usually think about how we are being remembered while we are still living. We think about today. About the things on our list. About what we have to get through. But our lives are being summed up by the people around us in real time. Our coworkers. Our family. Our friends. Our kids. They are all watching, and they are slowly forming the line they would write next to our name.
Zechariah did not earn his line in a day. He earned it over a life.
The same way we do.
The little choices we make. The way we respond when no one is looking. How we handle the small things. The quiet faithfulness no one is clapping for. It all adds up to whatever line ends up next to our name when it is all said and done.
I do not want my line to be empty.
I want there to be something. Even one phrase. One thing that was so consistent in my life that someone could not help but write it down.
Something like she loved God. Or she was faithful. Or she was steady. Or she made room for people. Or she did not give up.
Something true.