Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23, NASB)
“Is it any fun?” Is golf a challenge so deep that we get lost in the weeds of perfection? Even for the higher handicap player, they say, “If I could only get to single digits.” And what about the frustration of the +4 handicap who desperately needs to improve to reach the next level? The quest never ends, and the goal is never reached.
The quote above, “Is it any fun?” is from the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus. Mr. Holland is trying to teach this beautiful young girl, who is trying so desperately to play the clarinet well, to please her family and become an accomplished musician.
Mr. Holland says, “We have been doing it all wrong. We have been playing the notes on the page. You know the notes. When you look in the mirror, what do you like best?” She responds, “My long red hair. My dad says it reminds him of a sunset.” Mr. Holland then says, “Play the sunset. It is about heart and passion. It is not about the notes on a page.”
John Ortberg says, “If I am ever going to become the me I want to be, I have to start being honest with the me I am now.” We strive for money, position, or glory. Is it any fun? A better question is what happens when we get money or rise to the top and achieve some goals.
Rudyard Kipling once said, “Beware of overconcern for money or position or glory. Someday you will meet a man who cares for none of these things. Then you will know how poor you are.”
I think you’re familiar with this message. I want to share some of my notes over the years that I have written in my journal on this subject of heart and playing the sunset:
- Attitude is everything. What we see is determined by who we are.
- We learn and grow stronger through the crucible of difficulties. Character is revealed in a crisis.
- I don’t live in the past, but I am very grateful for the past and look forward to the future.
- I love hanging around joyful people who know where they are going.
- All problems are spiritual. All solutions are spiritual.
- Don’t judge other people’s scars.
Howard Thurman once observed, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
Are we content to just play the notes on a page and follow the rules, or do we desire more in our relationship with our Savior who desperately loves us? We want our hearts to live in the sunset as we strive to pursue the One who made the sunset.
Relationship with anyone is about the heart, not about notes on a page. We honor our Creator by becoming what He had in mind when He made the original you. There is a whole new world out there that is greater than we can ever imagine. God says, “Yes, and here is a lot more.”
Francis Fenelon famously once revealed this marvelous truth: “All earthly delights are greater in expectation than in reality. All spiritual delights (playing the sunset) are greater in reality than expectation.”
I boldly testify to the truth of that insight. The reality is that heaven awaits and will provide more than we can ever imagine. What a sunrise that will be!
“Now with God’s help, I shall become myself.” Soren Kierkegaard
Prayer – Thank you, Jesus, for providing opportunities to glorify You with heart and passion.