Nothing To Prove

It starts when we are very young — espe­cially for males. We go through a series of tests to prove things to our­selves. It starts when we begin to com­pete with sib­lings. We go on to prove our­selves to class­mates, men­tors, work asso­ciates, and finally to our­selves. Some com­plete the process early — oth­ers stay stuck in it until their dying day.

Life has its tests, but it also has its con­so­la­tions. When I look back at every exam I have ever taken and every pro­fes­sional rung on the lad­der I have had to climb, I won­der why I took it so seri­ously. It is some­thing instinc­tual I sup­pose. We fear being in the mar­gins or per­ceived as incom­pe­tent. Nature has some sort of pur­pose in it, but one day you dis­cover that it can be transcended.

The Bible is filled with sto­ries and encour­age­ments about “run­ning the race” and “receiv­ing the prize.” The spir­i­tual strug­gle goes until your last breath. What you begin to real­ize after a while is that it is not a strug­gle against other peo­ple but our­selves that mat­ters most. Self-mastery is to be pre­ferred to all other accom­plish­ments. The Apos­tle Paul con­sid­ered this a box­ing match with him­self. After all, the real strug­gles are more inter­nal than external.

I took the degrees off my wall many years ago and stuck them in a file some­where. There is no one I need impress. God alone knows my poten­tials and lim­i­ta­tions. Life is both chal­lenge and grace. Some­where along the way we learn to live — sim­ply live. There is noth­ing more to prove.