Rob Bell’s new book: How to Be Here: A Guide to Create a Life Worth Living (HarperOne, 2016) is as thoughtful as it is thought provoking. When I get around to officially rating it, I will certainly give it 5 stars.
Always Creating
Just a few pages into the first part of the book in a section titled “Ex Nihilo-ness,” Bell offers this wisdom about our ongoing creative role as humans:
You create your life. You get to shape it, form it, steer it, make it into something . . . What you do with your life is fundamentally creative work . . . All work is ultimately creative work because all of us are taking part in the ongoing creation of the world (Loc 184).
So What?
Over the last few weeks I have been in too many conversations that included one or more people expressing frustration or sadness about the path of their own lives as a result of the path our country has taken or is taking. I also think back to a conversation with a bright and successful person who expressed a similar sense of helplessness because he was sure that forces beyond his control were limiting his ability to change anything.
In the midst of a world such as this we especially need a reminder that we do have control over our own lives. While such control is never absolute, it is always significant. As those who follow the way of Jesus each of us must commit (and recommit on a daily basis!) to creating a life for ourself that is consistent with who we are and whose we claim to be. Additionally, we must never separate ourselves from the larger world in which we live as we co-create with God and with other people a better future for all people and for all of creation.
- How “in control” of your own life do you feel right now?
- What is one life-giving way you currently work with others to co-create with God the realm of God on earth?