I think it's been over a year now but I was looking back through my journal (I have more time these days to look through my journal) and found an interesting entry.
Back in October, 2008 Scott Simon interview Terrence Howard on his NPR show "Weekend Saturday." Mr. Simon did a great job of asking the kinds of questions I would have asked if I had the chance to sit down across the table from Mr. Howard and ask him myself. It's a great interview and worth a listen. You'll remember Terrence Howard for his memorable roles in Iron Man, Hustle & Flow, and others.
Simon asked Howard if he wanted his kids to be actors when they grew up. He said no, not really. But it was his reason that really struck me. He said when you're an actor, it's easy to shift from really experiencing life to simply observing life. Some of life's deepest and most precious moments become reduced to merely studies for the next part or role. As an actor you learn to store up everything just in case you need to draw from it later.
Pretty insightful stuff.
How often do we find ourselves merely observing life from a safe distance only to be snapped back into reality when a lay-off or death or birth occurs? When we are merely observers, life no more touches us than what happens in a play to the actors touches the audience. Sure you can feel the emotion. You can be drawn in by the moment. But allowing life to really touch you and to change you is an entirely different way to live.
In my own case, I want to do a better job of living in the moment. I want to feel things…really feel these things that are happening to me and happening around me. God forbid that I end up wandering through my days detached and removed.
I believe that when we are more in touch with those things that are happening around us we are better able to serve others. We can minister to them because we understand. We get it.
You know, Jesus promised us an abundant life. I believe that's not a promise for a pain-free life, but rather a life where we get to experience it all. The highs and the lows. We'll experience it all abundantly.
Don't cheapen your life experience by holding it at arm's distance. Dive in. Experience it to the fullest. It's really the only role you get to have.
Hey Michael, interesting perspective. I’ve been reading a lot lately on the positive side of thinking of the Christian life as a drama. We do live life as a drama, but a real one. The best plays are good pictures of real life. The Bible is our script, and we are called not just to know it, but to perform it, to enact it, to live it. God is the playwright. Pastor/teachers are local directors of groups of gospel players. We have to know/understand the earlier acts in the drama, but still have to improvise our part today, with the personal help of the playwright, the Holy Spirit. Etc. It’s a rich image.
Hey Michael,
“A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller would be well worth your time. My mind’s been on the very same topic that yours is, largely in response to Miller’s book.
Side note: I’m on this blog for the first time (I followed my nose after reading that you had left CCCA), and I was interested to see that your last post was a youtube video of my favorite musician. Ironic. Maybe we’ve got a few things in common. 🙂
God bless.
Thanks Aaron! I’ve read Donald Miller before but I haven’t read the new one yet. I’ll have to do that. I’ll bet we do have a bunch in common. Tell you friends about the blog!