Don’t be an *…

A recent online advert caught my eye when I read, “Use steroids. Get caught. Be labeled. Don’t be an *.”

How do my life stats look? I see the celebration of the end of the year and recognize that for some of us there is significance to 12/31/2008. But I am confident that if the Lord wills it there is a 01/01/2009 just across the face of the clock. So life goes on as do those things that make us who we are because of whose we are.

Still, there can be haunting memories that lurk in the rearview mirror. Re-reading Windows of the Soul – Ken Gire (a Fort Worth guy) prompted me to send out some Meatloaf lyrics to a few coworkers. "If life is just a highway, then the soul is just a car, and objects in the rear-view mirror may appear closer than they are." I know that as we examine our memories of this year or past years, there are those moments that we might just as soon forget. However, they are just a glance away in that rear view mirror and always seem to be glancing back at us. Is this for the benefit of self-examination?

I had hoped to live a life that was * free but it seems under re-examination that there could be several *s in my life stats. So tell me, what’s a man to do? Does he stare, eyes forward, straight through this New Year and straight through the people whom he meets? Is there a good that comes from not acknowledging self and therefore closed off to the *s in the lives of our family, friends, co-workers, people we see in the larger community?

There is no good in ripping off the rear view mirror from the windshield of life just so we won’t be reminded of our past. As painful as it may be to look back at some of our memories, there is a good, a deep goodness that comes from the process. I am not proposing we make any large announcements or hold a press conference. Most of our stuff is very private and should remain so. But in the processing of our stuff we find moments of strength and vantage points on which to stand where we can view other low spots and see the path that lead us through them. I have found out so much about life when I have taken the time to look around the * that was blocking my view and by processing the path that lead me to that moment. We may even be uncomfortable with the extra spacing and apparent disorder or asymmetrical look when we acknowledge the *s in our life. (shhh, listen to my whisper…) Could it be that my life is not in the correct format of the commonly accepted style? And if that is true then could it also be that other people see that already? And if so, what effect does this have on my identification?

What’s a man to do?

What are you going to do with the *s in your life stats?