Top 10-#4 Think Flexible
In 1956, actress Doris Day recorded the hit song, “Que Será Será.” It was introduced in the Hitchcock film, The Man Who Knew Too Much and later used as the theme of The Doris Day [TV] Show.
“Whatever will be will be” is what the words mean. Related popular expression are, “it was meant to be,” and “everything happens for a reason,” (as if someone or something is driving the universe).
These expressions reflect a worldview that is fatalistic and predetermined.
The problem is, the world doesn’t work like that.
I believe there is someone bigger than me, a being referred to as God.
I’m not a Deist who believes that God created the world and then left it. Neither am I a determinist who thinks God causes everything. (If that is so, you must conclude that God is a monster, a topic I will address in a later post.)
The world is not on some pre-determined course. There are too many variables. There are too many possibilities. There is human free will.
Animists believe spirits inhabit everything (trees, the ground, everything) and humans are mostly powerless to fight them; people live in fear.
Muslims say, “nsha’Allah,” which means, “God willing.” Behind this saying is a belief that nothing happens outside of God’s will.
These ideas have invaded Christianity as far back as Augustine in the 4th and 5th centuries.
However, life shows us that things can change. In the bible, there is great evidence that God changes his mind.
I have free will, so I can choose my path—and change my mind.
If I see the world as fixed, then I am either in the right or in the wrong. I am either on the merry-go-round or I am off. I’m either in God’s will or I’m not. This is very simplistic, legalistic and discouraging. It can leave one with an overwhelming sense of hopelessness.
I think it is reasonable to see life as dynamic and my relationship with God as a dance. I move; He moves. He moves; I move. Good relationships are always marked by give-and-take adjustment and flexibility.
You live in a world of possibilities. God gave you a lot of power.
Consider the world as open, not fixed.
In 1969, funk musician Sly Stone recorded another song, “You Can Make It If You Try.”
We must live consistent with what we believe. Even as Doris Day released her fatalistic hit, “Que Será Será,” she was busy building her successful career in Hollywood. She was proving you can make it if you try.
Royalty-free compliments of Tara Bowen
