LIFE: a thing we both are and do. Pertaining to life, being and doing are mutually inclusive. Embrace both. Cherish what they represent. That is, enjoy the age that you have—the period known as your life.
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The above statements describe a philosophy for life in basic terms.
If we can manage two tasks simultaneously—being ourselves and doing what we are passionate about—we have the age that is our lives squared away. The trouble is most of us find both of those endeavours railed in barriers. And even when we do achieve semblances of the satisfaction our glee tends to be temporary; the winds of change threaten to sweep us of course eventually.
Being and Doing – Goals of Life
Traditionalists disparage the former whilst evangelists of grace dispel the latter.
The truth is we need meaning in both, in reasonably equal portions, to enjoy our lives. This present age, where we live and breathe and think and walk and talk, is satisfied in only these two things.
Being
We are to be the person we are purposed to be. That, as a search, may take years, decades, or the entirety of the age we exist in our earthly bodies to discover.
This is the most important task of our lives: to discover who we are from what we know, and to never give up that quest. At times, we will have discovered it, only to find it disappear from our grasp. That of itself can induce quite sharp depression. To feel completely in control only to lose it is a difficult concept for almost everyone. But then, we too can change; choosing to change the direction of our lives—that, when it happens, is a great God-blessed freedom. Some, as mentioned before, never quite find purpose in being. We are nevertheless never better blessed by not giving up.
Being is central to our identities; it provides the platform for doing.
Doing
Conversely, but not against being, we are most blessed to find and accomplish the things we are purposed to do.
This is not about doing for the sake of doing; it’s everything about doing, to the best of our abilities, the exact things that God has put us here for. How can we know this if we aren’t already being the person we were meant to be?
Nothing quite gives us the same sort of joy as doing our things purposefully. Being is only part the pleasure. Doing completes the mission of ‘us in our age’.
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Neither being nor doing are less or more important than the other. They are, of a sense, tied to each other—as mentioned, mutually inclusive. If we cannot be who we are supposed to be then it figures we cannot do what we are supposed to do. It operates the same in reverse.
The age we have—our life—is our opportunity to become the dream and to do everything that that dream represents. That is life in a nutshell. Don’t be afraid of dreaming humbly, for many such dreams are blessed better than bold ones.
© 2011 S. J. Wickham.
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