Is it something like Do or Don’t?
I mean, some people’s lives are busy with living, loving, helping, working, making, or building and others are busy at waiting, watching, judging, applauding, or criticizing.
Alas, busy doesn’t necessarily mean good. There are busy people whose lives are all about lying, cheating, hurting, harming, or taking advantage of others.
There are some people who tend to be imaginative, creative, or unconventional, but lead, while others may be inclined to react, praise, or criticize, but follow.
Some people say all the right things, but don’t necessarily do all the right things. Vice-versa, other people don’t say much or even seem to get it wrong when they do, but are always doing good, helping others, or trying to do what’s right.
Similarly, there are people highly active and very busy at doing selfish things even harmful to others, while saying all the right things and professing values that they do not put into practice.
Which is better? To be totally a spectator of life or to be an actor, a player? And, what of bad actors and bad players—are they better than spectators of life or worse?
In many ways, our culture is filled with “spectator sports”. When we listen to or watch the “news” on radio or television, we are overwhelmed with scattered facts and an abundance of opinion and judgements.
What are we, sometimes, but no more than spectators of other spectators?
We may argue about the merits of political, religious, or other popular leaders and their proposals and deeds, but we rarely move from “spectator” to “actor”—that is, we rarely do much more that argue about the relative merits of what other people do!
Did you ever wonder how could people once cheer to see wild animals tear apart innocent people in the colosseum? Be careful, we have our modern equivalents!
Better to have fought and lost than not to have fought at all! Better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all! Better to have lived and died than not to have lived at all! But, of course, it’s far better to win, succeed, and live.
It’s curious, but actually no one is a player or even a spectator all by themselves. Player usually presumes a team, others who assist at the moment of play or before it and whose experience is valuable. Spectators, too, are affected and at times guided by others. Think of how many times you were guided by another’s “Look at that!”
In a way, all this is not so very different from a warning and counsel Jesus gave to his followers and disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Mathew 7:21)
You may decide to follow Jesus, “no turning back, no turning back,” but it’s not merely a matter of words, of saying, affirming, or advising the “right” things—it’s a matter of doing them.
Actions speak louder than words!
Are you afraid to make a choice and implement it because you’re not sure you’ve gotten it just right, because you’re afraid of making a mistake?
Welcome to the human race! We’re all like that! They may call you a “perfectionist,” but that’s not what human beings are, even though they may aspire to be one.
Only by the grace and help of God can we approach and do our best to do the right thing, the good thing, the holy thing—and with God’s help we may get close to getting it right. By ourselves, alone, no way!
4 December 2022