Life doesn’t give do-overs, just lessons
image by New Hope West
Speed’s Way
Driving home after my Lambo exhilaration, some unexpected thoughts arose. This experience changed me. My views on what I could handle grew, and the adrenaline rush of handling a supercar through the curves and straights made me desire more.
This experience exponentially increased my love of going fast, and I was decent at it. I passed a much younger driver in a faster car. Hit 112 in a straight that led into a 170-degree hairpin curve. While driving my full-sized Ford vans in the Taos mountains, only one car, a Z sports car, passed me. Dad held the Cannonball Run record, which imprinted on me. But no, at 69 I wasn’t about to leave retirement compete on a sports car circuit. That train had left the station. But we all wonder about past decisions, “What if I’d gone to college? What if Gayle had introduced me to Cheryl Ladd? What if I hadn’t…” but we don’t get do-overs. What’s done is done. Life is as it is.
But we can learn by looking back. We figure out the values we had when we made various decisions. Have those values changed? In the midst of this, I picked up a core value that helps us navigate life.
God’s Way
Each past decision formed us, each future decision shapes our life’s direction. God examines the two options that he says will determine if he grades our lives as successful…or not. Simply, do we choose to please God, or to please ourselves?
Early on, I chose to please God, but half-heartedly. A friend described me in those days as “though loving the Lord, living your life.” Utterly impossible to do both. But Jesus’ statement to a church in Revelation concerned me, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16).
Possessing enough warmth to think I wasn’t cold, but not enough to be hot. Hot being the desire to please Jesus rather than ourselves. Romans 8:1-10 expands on that difference, please read it on your own and apply it to your life.
This gives the link to me changing my past: trading my current life or having giving it to racing.
For me, just me, getting into racing would have been to please me. I would have loved it. And while I could not have blended the two, many can. We can build God’s kingdom in almost any profession, when our heart desires to please God, to build his kingdom with our gifts and resources. Yes, have fun. Enjoy life. But build your life on pleasing him.
Crossing the Finish Line
Have you come to the realization that we either dedicate our lives to pleasing ourselves or to pleasing God? Looking at your life, what is the ratio of building your kingdom or God’s? What changes should you make?