What if it sucks?

Yes, I’m kind of thinking about Star Wars.  People are pretty hyped up that it’s premiering tonight.  Theories have been flying around for months about what is actually happening, and of course, people are concerned about the possibility that it will not be all it’s supposed to be.  I really don’t care.

It’s not that I don’t care about the movie.  I want to see it, and I hope it’s awesome!  I was 7 when the first movie came out.  I loved it.  LOVED IT!  I still have copies of the first three on VHS.  VHS, people!

Here’s why I don’t care if it’s bad or not. This week, so many people in my social media circles are talking about this movie.  Talking about this movie instead of talking about bombs or terror or Trump.  They’re talking about a movie.  We could write that off as another example of Americans burying their heads in the sand and ignoring the problems of the world, but I look at it a little differently, and it gives me hope.

This week people are talking about something someone created, not something someone destroyed.

Perhaps if we set our minds about the business of creating rather than destroying, we might find some more common ground with one another. It takes courage and vulnerability to share one’s self with the world, regardless of how that sharing may take place.

The first time I got on stage and played guitar, I was terrified. The first time I introduced a song with the words, “This is one I wrote,” I nearly threw up.  What if it sucks? Frankly, some of them did.  But, so what?

The act of creating taps into something inside us that makes us come alive.  And it helps us value that trait in others.  It’s easy to yell, “You suck!  Get the Hell off the stage,” if you’ve never stood on a stage yourself.

Any Jackass can destroy something.  That takes zero courage.  But to open yourself up and say, “Look what I made.”  That takes guts. That is living.  I have a friend who has some ink that reads, “I will not die an unlived life.” I love that. That’s the kind of life I want.  That’s the kind of life we are all called to pursue. One that is life-giving, not only to the person living it, but to all those that person would encounter.