This past week I "read" the audiobook A Man Called Ove. The book tells the story of a Swedish man who has been forced into retirement, shortly after the death of his wife. For nearly forty years he enjoyed the same routine, but now that all of that has come to an end he looks for ways to die. Every attempt he makes is foiled, until he finds a new purpose for life, ceases his attempts, and begins to really live again, or perhaps for the first time. In many ways I saw myself in Ove. He's a very practical man, seeing the world as very black and white, who doesn't like the complicated direction the world has progressed in.
For Ove, his life was wrapped up in the routine of taking care of his wife and going to work. Now that those are over, he spends his time making sure the rules of his housing community are followed, visiting his wife's grave, and figuring out how he can join her without upsetting/disappointing her. His life has very little purpose without his routine, and so he makes a new one in order to pass the time until he dies. I see so many men in Ove.
Life was meant to be more than just routines to fill the time until we die. Life is about more than finding a spouse, and then getting a career to take care of said spouse. Life is about more than just making sure the rules are followed and passing the time waiting for death. Life was meant to be lived, and then passing on our experience to help others learn to live. This is what happens to Ove in the end. He has outgoing neighbors who constantly pester him, and eventually he begins to really care about them, one families children end up calling him Grandpa Ove. He finds a new purpose and stops trying to end His life. He begins to pour his knowledge of fixing things, cars, houses, bikes, into others. That is what life was meant to be.
If life is wrapped up in routines, it's really boring. You go to work longing for the day you get to retire to the golf course (which sounds even more boring) and then when that day finally comes you complain about how messed up this new generation is. That isn't the life I want, and I'm guessing it isn't the life most men want, but it's the life many end up with because that is the concept we have of what life is. I forgot to throw in the mid life crisis that is becoming common.
Ove began to live when he found that he had something to offer. He began to live when he found a mission and a use for all of his skills. Rather than complaining how no one knew how to back up a trailer, bleed a radiator, or fix a house, he began to take his knowledge and teach others. Life was meant to be lived, gaining experience, and instead of spending the final years on the golf course, making our most crucial investments by passing on our experience and guiding the next generation.
I've found myself in a routine much like Ove's. I get up, go to work, come home, go to bed. I'm a grad student, so there is some school work thrown into the mix, but for the most part that is my life. Eldredge talks about how every man needs a battle to fight, a beauty to rescue, and an adventure to live. Right now, I feel like I have none of those. I have dreams of battle and adventure; I see school opening doors to lead me into them. Beauty takes many shapes, and I want to fight for beauty, to protect it, but right now that seems like something vague and distant that I can't even grasp. One of my biggest fears is ending up like Ove, caught in a routine with nothing besides it. I don't want to waste my life or my skills. I want to live life to the fullest, gain experience, and then pass on wisdom gained from a life lived well.
This is what God intended for us. In the beginning man is made in the image of God and given three purposes: To fellowship with God, to care for the earth, and to reveal God to creation. The book of Proverbs is full of teachings from parents to children, and it presents us with an ideal that God intended for His creation. It is a book of wisdom that directs us towards God's design for life. We were made to live life, and pass on the lessons that we learn. It is when we live in this way that we live fully alive.
Right now I've been wrestling with a lot. I'm searching for my God given identity, and trying to take advantage of where I am in the moment to soak up the experiences around me. I won't spend my last years on the golf course, because I don't golf, but I don't want to spend my last years as a crotchety old geezer who complains about the young folk. I want to be an investor, someone who makes a difference in the lives of those around me. It begins now, by refusing to be consumed by the routines. It begins with fighting the battle to stay close to God. It begins by adventurously pouring into the lives of others now. It begins by fighting for what is good and beautiful in this world. It begins by being intentional.
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
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