5 - Metaphors for Living: Life is a Test, a gift, and brief
We have the ability to shape our lives.
The way
we use imagination to envision a possible future influences our future. It
influences how we invest time, spend money, use talents, and value
relationships.
Such
images are life metaphors. Life is a puzzle; life is a journey; life is a
minefield; life is a party; life is a game; life is a battle; life is a race.
One
helpful exercise of the imagination is to reflect upon one's life, consider the
pattern one has weaved with one's life, and consider what obvious subtle
metaphors have already shaped one's life. We often have family metaphors that
shape our lives in tacit ways. Too often, the metaphors by which we have lived
our lives have deeply embedded themselves in our subconscious. They may be
healthy metaphors – or not. We move toward taking responsibility for our lives
as we choose the metaphors by which we will live. We can do this as we take a
pause and consider.
I will
suggest three metaphors that I hope prove helpful.
First, a human life is a test. As Søren
Kierkegaard asserts in Practice in Christianity
(1850, No. III), this earthly existence of ours is a real test. Life is an
examination. To be a human being is to engage in the tests of life. For Kierkegaard , of course, the greatest test is to become and
to be a Christian. Human words and deeds testify to one thing, he says –
whether he or she is up for the examination.
This
metaphor suggests that each person is responsible for his or her life. It also
suggests that we are responsible to someone. It suggests that we are agents of
history, and not simply shaped by history. The Bible often uses words like
trials, temptations, refining, and testing. It also tells stories that involve
the metaphor of testing. The story of the Garden of Eden contains many
metaphors. One is whether Adam and Eve would trust God or trust the serpent. When Abraham began a journey with Isaac
that almost ended in the sacrifice of his only son, the text says it was a test
of whether Abraham would obey God. Joseph lived in Egypt Bathsheba
and a criminal test with her husband, as he arranged for his death. He failed
the test of raising a family, most dramatically with Absalom. Jesus had a test after his baptism that tested the
character of his public ministry.
26 Just as it was in the days of Noah ,
so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man.
Mark 13:32 (NRSV)
32 "But about that day or hour no one
knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home
and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper
to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake-for you do not know
when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight , or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or
else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.
35 "Be dressed for action and have
your lamps lit; 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to
return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon
as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master
finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have
them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he
comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed
are those slaves.
28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were
eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but
on the day that Lot left Sodom
6 Then he told this parable: "A man
had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and
found none. 7 So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years
I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it
down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' 8 He replied, 'Sir, let it
alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If
it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'
"
Therefore, we need to lead lives in which we are ready. No
matter when the end comes for us, we want to die well. That would mean passing
the test and being up for the examination.
We reveal
our character in the various tests we have in life. Often, such tests are not
of our choosing. Few of us like tests. Some tests in school we have had great
anxiety in taking. Life thrusts such tests upon us. We will rise to the occasion
and pass the test, or we will discover that we could not pass the test. In some
cases, failing a test may help us to redirect our lives. Because life tests us,
we must not fear to test life. Every human decision has an open-ended character
to it. We can revisit every decision and impulse.
One of
the gifts human beings have is to learn from others. This means that, whether
we are aware of it or not, we are evaluating the lives of others all the time.
Others are evaluating us all the time. Of course, we hope others will listen to
our lives and judge generously. We can also hope that we will extend to others
the same courtesy. People see how we relate to others, how we do our jobs, what
we do in speaking in public, how we raise our children, how we treat our
spouses, how we have fun, how we respond in problems, conflicts, and illness,
and so on. Such tests often become ways in which life tests our faith, our
hope, and our love.
Our
temptation is to think of tests coming in the large decisions we make in life:
whom we shall marry, what career to which we commit ourselves, the development
of basic beliefs and values, the decision to move to different parts of the
country, and so on. These are important tests of character, beliefs, and
values. However, life tests us in the routine of each day. How we treat spouse,
children, and pets on a daily basis are hints of the kind of person we are and
want to become. How we treat others who serve us throughout the day are
important tests. How we treat police officers, soldiers, and firefighters
suggests the ways in which we value the interconnection of the community and
nation. The question is whether we treat others with generosity and kindness.
The
apostle Paul said it quite well.
Romans 14:7-12 (NRSV)
7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.
8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the
Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9 For
to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he
might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you,
why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the
judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written,
"As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God."
12 So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
Second, a human life is a journey with a
beginning. The nature of the beginning of life is such that a helpful metaphor
is that life is a gift. We spend too little time reflecting upon the life
metaphor derived from our physical birth. We do not produce our bodies. We are
the product of two persons who came together physically and hopefully with love
for each other and for the child to come. The biological base for our lives is
in the genetic structure that resulted from the union of others. Genetic
structure shapes many aspects of our lives. We need a basic trust that as the
processes of life unfold, we will have the resources we need. Our time, energy,
intelligence, opportunities, relationships, and resources are all gifts. We are
stewards of these gifts. Human ownership is always temporary. A saying
attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of
Thomas suggests this same theme: "Become passersby." Jesus told a parable illustrating this dimension of
life. We often refer to it as the parable of the talents.
14 "For it is as if a man, going on a
journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to
one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to
his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five
talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17
In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18
But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in
the ground and hid his master's money. 19 After a long time the
master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then
the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more
talents, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made
five more talents.' 21 His master said to him, 'Well done, good and
trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in
charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' 22 And
the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, 'Master, you handed
over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.' 23 His
master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been
trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter
into the joy of your master.' 24 Then the one who had received the
one talent also came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew that you were a harsh
man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter
seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the
ground. Here you have what is yours.' 26 But his master replied,
'You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow,
and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have
invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what
was my own with interest.
Such a story reminds us of the importance of investing
what gifts we have. Further, hoarding such gifts does not lead to fullness of
life. Each of us is a gift. The question life poses is whether we will offer
the gift that we are to others. If we commit ourselves to do this, we will
discover a meaningful and full life. However, if we do not share the gift we
are, we selfishly hold it within. We do not give others the benefit of the gift
that we are. We deny to others a gift that may benefit their lives and assist
them in their journey of life.
The business
side of the parable is quite appropriate. How we manage our money is an apt
sign of how we manage our lives. The priorities we have with the use of
financial resources suggest the core beliefs and values that guide our lives.
For many of us, the greatest test we face in life is how use our financial
resources.
Third, a human life is a journey with an
end. Life is temporary, brief, and transient. Jesus
told a parable that relates to this metaphor.
16 "The land of a rich man produced
abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I
have no place to store my crops?' 18 Then he said, 'I will do this:
I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my
grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have
ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But
God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.
And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So it is
with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward
God."
Among the most important decisions any of us will make is
how attached we become to this world. When we realize how brief the journey is,
we can treat this life with the seriousness it deserves, realizing that the
only home this body will have is here. God loves this world. To live with God in this world is to love
this world with the same love that God has for this world. We will not
receive another chance. Yet, we also realize that we need to hold this world
somewhat lightly in our minds and hearts. Realizing the temporary nature of
human life helps us not to cling to this life.
The
fullness of the meaning of our lives is beyond this world. The full
significance of our lives will unfold long after we die. This is what religion
calls eternity. In that sense, our eternal home is beyond the home we have on
this earth. This awareness opens us to freedom, creativity, and risk. This world can become a prison or trap, as
we bind ourselves to the wealth, power, fame, and prestige that it values. We can
become a prisoner to the opinions and evaluations of the culture in which we
live.
If we
journey without direction, we have wasted time and energy. A vision of eternity
helps us to place our culture in perspective. We practice the capacity we have
to reflect upon ourselves, as well as the family system, community, and culture
that shaped us. We do not know the nature of that eternal home. What we do know
is that if we become too attached to this world, we will adopt the values of
this world. We will want to receive the fame, power, wealth and status that
this world offers. Such dedication will often lead us down a path that we
eventually discover is self-destructive. We discover that, no matter what we
achieve, we never achieve enough. No matter how many people love us, it is
never enough. We have longing, desire, and hope that no degree of fulfillment
in this world will satisfy. Satisfaction with what we do, think, and feel here
does not satisfy us because human life is oriented beyond this life. In fact,
this is why people will sacrifice this life. Some of our fellow citizens will
rush into burning buildings, move toward criminals, and fight as soldiers for
the freedoms we enjoy, because they value something more than longevity on this
earth.
Frankly,
it takes faith, hope, and love to live on earth. Such qualities open us to a
possible future. Without such qualities, we close ourselves from imagining a
possible future, and simply collapse into the present. Moving forward in life
with anticipation opens us to undiscovered potential in ourselves, in others,
in the community, in the nation, and in the world. The stories we tell with our
lives continue well beyond death.
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