It hits me directly like a drunk trying to drive. As I go downstairs the familiarity brings me back. Coffee, the student’s ambrosia, brewing in the corner strong and black. Before I could blink and find myself somewhere else I am reminded of home, with its French Press and somehow never empty tub of Folger’s. I remember how every morning, religiously, my dad brews my mother’s coffee, as if he finally found the hangover cure for night owl’s grumpy mornings.
As a child, I remember every day my mother would come into my room and I’d hear her say “Rise and shine.” There is a whole world out there, somewhere. So I rose and I shone, put on my shoes and I was gone.
I remember being told, “You can’t just do whatever.”
The words stumbled out of you like a drunk leaving a bar, looking for a fresh, new last call. You’ve never been a man of words but did your best to offer me advice. You offered me, “You can’t just do whatever.” And I know what you meant. You meant that whatever I choose to do, it mustn’t be aimless. I must not simply spin this globe and go wherever I stick my finger because 71% of the time I will end up in the ocean. And if I do end up in the ocean, I can’t just do whatever, I better learn to swim. You can’t just do whatever.
I’ve been reminded of the importance of this advice time and time again. We can’t just do whatever. Whatever is uncertain. Uncertainty is something everyone goes through. Like the first time someone asks you, “Who are you?” If uncertain, you realize its hard to describe yourself when you don’t know who you are. That’s how I knew and now still know you can’t be concerned with whatever others have got. Often the only reason they think they’re beautiful is the same reason they think you are not. Let me tell you, we have beauty beyond measure. We are a treasure entrenched in this earth. You can’t let strangers determine your worth.
God never calls us to be liked. He calls us to be obedient. Nevertheless, we often believe that acceptance in others has a value no banker can tally. That the storyboards others make for us dictate how we must live. But, the truth is, we tell ourselves stories all the time.
I remember my first time being picked last in basketball. No matter how good I did, I couldn’t get over it. On the ride home from practice I remember being asked, “What’s the matter?” Without a second thought, my third-grade self lets his inner caveman out and said, “Everyone thinks they’re the best, but what they don’t know is I’m the best.” I know, pretty deep for someone not tall enough to stand in the deep end.
The truth is often we gauge ourselves based off what we think others believe about us. Many trust that our worth is like a rack of Scrabble tiles that you could rearrange and exchange for better letters because it seems the world has got us all trying to spell beauty. Still, were not entitled to know the thoughts others have of us, and we are not required to care. Paul points this out in Galatians 2:10 when he says, “For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, would I not be a servant of Christ?”
Though we have been found in Christ, still, we find ourselves telling stories. Many stories are worn like a shield against the world’s cruelty, and some are dressed in the flesh of other people because they don’t want to be seen. Others won’t tell their ghost stories, because there are some stories that start like an earthquake and end like a hurricane, lacking a storm-drain big enough to collect all the tears they have shed over the lies others have said. Still, we forget, Paul, tells us, in Colossians 3:3, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Our life is hidden with Christ. Which is why I think maybe the writing on the wall could use a little revision, we must stop trying to calculate the differences between people. People don’t need division. That’s why the Lord calls us to love people.
We’ve been told stories of who we are from the views of other people. We can’t just say that their beliefs are better than our beliefs because we can’t always agree to disagree. Sometimes they’re just wrong. Which is how I knew and now still know you can’t value certainty over truth. Your life is hidden with Christ. So rise and shine. The world is a window that holds a sign, there is help wanted out there somewhere. Rise and shine.
