11 PM - Christal Earle’s Blog

This past Sunday I was in a church where one of my Hero Holiday students calls home. She was up at the front, talking about what she is doing this summer with us, and the pastor wanted to pray for her. When he prayed for her, he said something that I can’t stop thinking about, over and over again. He thanked God that she was not going to be the kind of person who was dead at 30, but buried at 80. As soon as he said that, my head jerked up, and I looked at Vaden. Both of us said, ‘That’s an awesome line and I’ll race you to see who uses it first!’…I win.
Often in life, it is easy to associate the idea of youthful dreams with the actual physical dimensions of youth: young in age, vibrant and buoyant, irrepressible conviction that they can change the world, and passion to see it happen. For many, dreams seem to grow dimmer as time passes, and before we know it, life seems too complicated to interfere with the steady and progressive rhythm that we can find ourselves in. There may be moments of tragedy or triumph where we get a glimpse of what we can accomplish, but largely it seems to roll forward with the sensation that passion has waned, vision has dimmed, and the only choice there can ever be is the ’safe’ choice.
Mmmm…the safe choice. I wonder if that means ‘Safe for me, and I hope it works out for the rest of the world’ or ‘Wow, I wish I could help to make this situation better for someone else, but I really can’t afford the time right now, and my finances are really better spent on myself and my future.’?
In the movie, ‘The Sixth Sense’, the little boy turns to Bruce Willis, and in an effort to explain his predicament he blurts out, “I see dead people!” Well, I hate to ruin the plot, but so do I. I see them everyday. I take the elevator with them. I park next to them at the mall. I even chat with them at my favorite little schwarma joint. They’re everywhere: People who had a dream, but chose the path of least resistance. The reasons are innumerable,but they are substantial nonethelesss. Reasons and excuses to not do something…anything. So, instead of embracing what could be, they settle for what will always be and wonder why there is that dim awareness that there is something more to live for.
Why is it so hard to see past ourselves? We are like little Doozers from Fraggle Rock (my fave Sunday night show growing up). Doozers were wee little construction guys obsessed with being busy, and always building and doing business. When a fraggle would come along and eat their creations, (which was inevitable), they would just sigh as if to say, ‘What can you do? Just get busy and get back to work’. But we were meant to be so much more than mere little doozers. We were meant to be a gift for this world, and everytime we take a chance to make something better for it, everytime we begin to dream of what can be and act on it, we are honoring the gift.
I once read that during the Roman empire, the average human lifespan was 32. That sucks, because I guess I would be on borrowed time (!). Today in North Amercia, it is almost 80. Times may have changed, but the compelling pull to live with purpose will never change. I don’t know about you, but each day I choose to be more fully alive than the day before. After all, this is what life is for, and the world needs the gifts that we possess.
This past Sunday I was in a church where one of my Hero Holiday students calls home. She was up at the front, talking about what she is doing this summer with us, and the pastor wanted to pray for her. When he prayed for her, he said something that I can’t stop thinking about, over and over again. He thanked God that she was not going to be the kind of person who was dead at 30, but buried at 80. As soon as he said that, my head jerked up, and I looked at Vaden. Both of us said, ‘That’s an awesome line and I’ll race you to see who uses it first!’…I win.
Often in life, it is easy to associate the idea of youthful dreams with the actual physical dimensions of youth: young in age, vibrant and buoyant, irrepressible conviction that they can change the world, and passion to see it happen. For many, dreams seem to grow dimmer as time passes, and before we know it, life seems too complicated to interfere with the steady and progressive rhythm that we can find ourselves in. There may be moments of tragedy or triumph where we get a glimpse of what we can accomplish, but largely it seems to roll forward with the sensation that passion has waned, vision has dimmed, and the only choice there can ever be is the ’safe’ choice.
Mmmm…the safe choice. I wonder if that means ‘Safe for me, and I hope it works out for the rest of the world’ or ‘Wow, I wish I could help to make this situation better for someone else, but I really can’t afford the time right now, and my finances are really better spent on myself and my future.’?
In the movie, ‘The Sixth Sense’, the little boy turns to Bruce Willis, and in an effort to explain his predicament he blurts out, “I see dead people!” Well, I hate to ruin the plot, but so do I. I see them everyday. I take the elevator with them. I park next to them at the mall. I even chat with them at my favorite little schwarma joint. They’re everywhere: People who had a dream, but chose the path of least resistance. The reasons are innumerable,but they are substantial nonethelesss. Reasons and excuses to not do something…anything. So, instead of embracing what could be, they settle for what will always be and wonder why there is that dim awareness that there is something more to live for.
Why is it so hard to see past ourselves? We are like little Doozers from Fraggle Rock (my fave Sunday night show growing up). Doozers were wee little construction guys obsessed with being busy, and always building and doing business. When a fraggle would come along and eat their creations, (which was inevitable), they would just sigh as if to say, ‘What can you do? Just get busy and get back to work’. But we were meant to be so much more than mere little doozers. We were meant to be a gift for this world, and everytime we take a chance to make something better for it, everytime we begin to dream of what can be and act on it, we are honoring the gift.
I once read that during the Roman empire, the average human lifespan was 32. That sucks, because I guess I would be on borrowed time (!). Today in North Amercia, it is almost 80. Times may have changed, but the compelling pull to live with purpose will never change. I don’t know about you, but each day I choose to be more fully alive than the day before. After all, this is what life is for, and the world needs the gifts that we possess.