Everybody Checks Themself Out

Life Was Simpler With Film
So the photographer snaps the group shot, and the people who just had their impromptu -- but nevertheless, highly-posed -- photo taken move out of their frozen positions. "Lemme see!" say an eager few. This is when people check themselves out, crowding around the little digital monitor of the camera as if it were a panoramic widescreen. Of course, there are those who couldn't care less how they looked in photos. And then there are those who pretend they couldn't care less. These people are my favorites because I think this is where I fit in, at least some of the time. As the eager self-checkers crowd around the camera, the closet self-checkers feign disinterest. They shift their eyes to and from the camera congregation, orbiting the vicinity at a comfortable enough distance within eye-shot, to ensure that they indeed looked good in the photo.

When someone thinks the photo taken is sub-par, they comment that another shot is in order, and the group must converge again for a re-shoot. Of course, this doesn't mean that the shot taken was bad at all. It simply means that the commenter deemed themself unattractive in said shot. Thus, the criteria for whether or not a photo taken is a good one is whether or not I looked good. It could be the most beautiful photo on earth, but if I thought I looked ugly in it, I'd want to do it again.

Parable Explained
I think this makes a fitting parable for the way we can be about the world. Our criteria for a good world is if we've got it all together. No matter how bad the world has it, we tend to focus on our own comfort and make that the priority. And on the flipside, when our world is going down the toilet, no matter how beautiful the rest of the world is, all is hell to us if our world isn't the way we want it to be - forget that God is good!

This is because the world's culture tends to over-emphasize my own well-being above all. The focus of most of my energy is making sure my academics, my career, my future, my plans, my luxuries, and so on, happen according to my idea of what a good life should be. If I look and feel fine in the picture, that's good enough for me. Regardless of what the rest of it looks like. Regardless of the big picture.

Celebrate and Clean Up The Beautiful Mess
But the truth is, at the times we get wrapped up in our exclusive pursuit of happiness, we need to remember that there is a world in need of what we have to offer: spiritually, physically, intellectually, materially. There is more than just our corner of the big picture, and we cannot overlook the responsibility. And then at other times, we get so wrapped up in our own little crises and failings and fail to see the world as anything more than bleak, dark and cold. It is at these times that we fail to see the beauty that must be celebrated.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that on this side of eternity, the world is a beautiful mess, filled with good and bad, existing in one place called the world. It's our job to open our eyes to the bigger picture, attempt to get a glimpse from the Creator's perspective. Then, we might acquire what it takes to celebrate the beauty and clean up the mess.

Practical stuff to consider: 1) Start doing more stuff for others: acts of kindness, zealous service in your community, give more to the poor, etc -- anything that will get your vision off yourself. Chances are you give yourself enough attention. 2) When life is bleak, remember that God is still good and there is always something to celebrate somewhere in the big picture.