No Holy Whack-a-Mole
“Here’s my definition of life: You face a bunch of problems and you have to deal with them one after the other. So just go take care of it!”
We were sitting at a restaurant eating dinner and that is what the young man told the young girl in the next booth. She was dealing with some kind of relationship issue, and he was telling her to stop stalling, confront it, and deal with it. He was adamant. He raised his voice. He used foul language. “Don’t worry about the pain because when you are finished with that problem there will be another and then another. Don’t let them stack up. Just knock’em down.”
Okay, I’m paraphrasing and embellishing, but that was the spirit of what he was saying. There was some wisdom in his general advice – to not let things get out of hand but go and face them and deal with them. And it is true that when this problem is resolved, there will be others. But there was some youthful naivety too. You can’t just bull your way through life. You can’t play whack-a-mole with every problem that pops up. Especially not with people. There are so many nuances, so many variables, so many repercussions. The best thing you can do is at least start a conversation.
I’m glad God doesn’t play whack-a-mole with us. I’m glad God wants to have a conversation instead. God is always listening. We have to put down our mallet, be quiet, and start the conversation. And then we have to be quiet and listen, too.