Who You Are

This past week someone reminded me of an old friend named Jack McEwen. When I was in high school, Dr. McEwen was the interim pastor at my home church. He was this very interesting guy who’d been an English professor and pastor for many years. He was wise and articulate and I really admired him. This is one of the things I remember him saying:

“Want what you have, do what you can, be who you are.”

Let’s think about this.

Two weeks ago Michelle and I went to see a Garrison Keillor performance at the North Charleston, SC, Performing Arts Center. Dear friends had given us tickets and we’d been looking forward to the trip since Christmas time.

For those of you who aren’t aware, Garrison Keillor hosts a weekly radio program on National Public Radio called, A Prairie Home Companion. It is an old-style radio variety show with skits and stories and live music. I love the portion of the show called the ‘News from Lake Wobegon,’ a fictitious small town way out there on the prairie in Minnesota, Keillor’s home state.

Each week Keillor tells stories about the apparently ordinary happenings and goings on in Lake Wobegon during his artful monologue. But, if you pay close attention to the events of the weeks and the comings and goings of the residents, there is often a deeper message woven carefully into the tapestry. This message is always funny, sometimes profound and often redemptive. Michelle and I found this to be the case in Charleston, as well, where Keillor appeared onstage with a single stool and a mike and talked about his life and growing up in Lake Wobegon. He told stories for two hours, each building on the one before with common threads running throughout.

His last story was about majoring in journalism, finishing college and moving to New York City. There, after time beating the streets for stories, he had an epiphany. He realized that his calling was to home, a place he knew, telling stories about what he knew best. That summed up his life in Lake Wobegon. As we left the theatre that evening we wondered, How much of his fictional Lake Wobegon is autobiographical? I assume much.

You know, there is something to appreciating what you have and enjoying what you’ve been given. There is joy in doing all you can and being who you are. I would call this gratitude. Or thanksgiving. Or stewardship.

I hope your life is filled to the brim with each of these today.

Blessings,

Ande

Do you have comments? Write to me at: ande.myers@gmail.com