More than one hundred years ago, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears however measured or far away.” Michael Jackson danced to a different beat. It is the choosing of a different drum beat that caused him to be an American icon.
I cannot accept Thoreau’s words without question. Some beats are not worth dancing too. There does come a time, however, when we have to make up our minds about the drum beat that we will follow.
Whatever drum we choose, it must preserve our integrity. One way of looking at integrity is asking how we would like to be remembered. What do you want your best friend to say at your funeral? How about your children? Your grandchildren? Your spouse? Some of us have spent time trying to define what we want to do. We know what we want to accomplish. The question is: Have we determined what we want to become? Your doing will flow from who you are. Your character determines your legacy.
It is also important to listen to a drum which keeps life focused on important things. It is possible to live our lives for things that don’t really matter. Jesus said, “I must do the works of him who sent me while it is still day, for the night comes and no one can work.” We are to work at the important things while it is still day. The life of Michael Jackson can teach us that price tags of life can and do get mixed up. A home is more important than a big house. Friends matter more than success. Physical and emotional health is greater than the stress found in climbing the ladder of success.
If the drum beat you listen to preserves your integrity and keeps you focused on what is important then I say, “just beat it.”
2 comments:
For me the problem becomes when I try to please others with the beat I am following. I have to remember that just because a beat is good, does not necessarily mean it is the one I am to follow. Of course, the ultimate beat to follow is that of Jesus, but I think there are several different tracks of service that have to be laid down on the album of life and those are sometimes the ones that are hardest to follow. It is easy to be distracted by the beat of others near you and you often find yourself picking up theirs. I have to keep focused on the conductor and shut out the other voices so that I can do what it is that He is directing me to do. :-)
“Friends matter more than success. Physical and emotional health is greater than the stress found in climbing the ladder of success.” Absolutely! I have always said that I would rather have just enough to survive and be happy with my family as opposed to having all the money in the world but no one to share life with. This is a hard lesson to sell to working Americans where for the longest time our society has placed such a high value on monetary gain. If we would just take a step back and say “Okay God, show me what it is you have for me and I will follow obediently”, he would handle the rest (i.e. financial need).
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