“HAS-BEENS, OR ALWAYS-WILL-BE’S”
“Sometimes I think we’re just has-beens,” said my wife to me.
I couldn’t argue with her. I felt pretty much the same. I have always felt like a has-been, even when I was quite young. However, I could console myself with the thought that I might someday be “a somebody.” (Isn’t it surprising that we have has-beens, but not “ises”? In other words, should someone who is at the top of their game be known as an “Is”? Just a thought!)
Well, I am old now—and getting older by the day—so it is difficult for me to think that someday I’ll amount to something. Is there any significance to old poops like me?
Well, I hope there is. However, certain preliminary questions probably should be asked.
- Has been what?
- Who gets to decide that someone is a has-been?
- Do the opinions of other people really matter at this point?
- Does my own feeling of has-been-ness have anything to do with reality?
- Where does God come into this matter of has-been-ness?
- Is there still a place for has-beens who still might make some significant contribution in some manner? (We’ll call such people “might-still-be’s”.)
Now, I did not say that I actually had answers to any of these preliminary questions. I just said that such questions should be asked.
However, I will tell you how I replied to my wife’s comment, “Sometimes I think we’re just has-beens.”
“I believe,” I said, “that we are made by God for eternity. Therefore, nobody is a has-been. Everyone is an always-will-be.”
I don’t always feel that way, but that is what I deeply believe. God is the granter and the guarantor of our significance. Everyone lives to him. There are no has-beens in God’s loving heart.
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