VERSUS

 

 

 

There is currently a crisis brewing in Buffalo, NY. The entire community is unravelling, people are pointing fingers, and blame is being thrown around. Everyone has an answer and everyone is screaming for action.

The Buffalo Sabres are bad.

This was supposed to be a good year in the recently dubbed “Hockey Heaven.” Big signings over the summer, a great start to the season, and it all unravelled. The team spiraled down to last place in the conference – and everyone is screaming and yelling their different solutions. But one chorus has been the loudest:

“Do something, Darcy.” Darcy Reiger is the GM of the team – and there have been no moves – not one – not a single trade – nothing – from this team that was expected to be a Stanley Cup Contender.

And now, the “smart” people are making fun of those still begging for change – saying that people who say that are dumb, have no vision, don’t get it – etc. Essentially, they just want to be viewed as people who are “above the fray” and have a better picture of what’s really going on.

We’ve all met them. In fact, at certain times in our lives, we’ve probably all been them. Those people who have to be right – even if it isn’t important, even if it will get people upset, even if it serves no purpose other than to make ourselves feel better. We all want to be thought of as smart. We like to be respected. But there are definitely times we want to sound smart just… well just to sound smart.

And honestly, when we see that in other people, it drives us crazy. When we act like that, we may feel all good about ourselves and smart for a while, but later on, we know what we did.

Would you rather be around a smart person or a joyful person?

For a long, long time, (ok, in my perspective – I’m not that old) I always wanted to be right. Even if it made me a killjoy. Even if it annoyed people for no reason – I had to show what I knew – I had to show that I had the answers. And really, I’m sure I was (and still am!) annoying. And a few years ago, I sort of realized this about myself, and realized I don’t like this. Yuck.

So for the past few years, I’ve been asking people to pray for me to be more joyful. I’ve been trying to be more joyful. I’ve been praying for joy in my heart, in my life, in how I react to situations.

I’m honestly at a place where I realize I don’t know much of anything. About anything. So I’m wanting to stop the charade of trying to be smart – and just try to live with passion and live with joy. That’s my prayer this Lent, and will continue to be my prayer for quite a while.

I want to be passionate and joyful. Pray for me, won’t you?