Something beautiful

29/9/2022

It’s tempting to place our heroes on a pedestal, to imagine that they are or were something unique and extraordinary in this world. And there is a sense in which that’s true. After all, each one of us has and brings our own passions, gifts and talents in this life – and we each find ourselves, as ourselves, in our own set of circumstances. Yet, at the same time, those high pedestals on which we place others separate us from those whom we admire most. They create role models at a distance, showing what’s possible for a human being, whilst also absolving us because it implies 'we’re not like them'.

Various heroes have inspired, challenged and humbled me throughout my own life. Jesus Christ stands at the pinnacle, with other well-known figures including Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi as icons. They are striking by their central passion for God and, each in their own way, a determined stance on behalf of and alongside those who are poorest, most vulnerable and oppressed. They are exceptional by their decisions and actions to outwork their mission, vision and values at considerable personal cost. They didn’t shrink back. For most, it cost them their lives.

Their examples resonate with various people I have had the privilege of knowing and working alongside, including: Jasmin in the Philippines with her radical concern for the poor; Mike in the UK with his intense work for racial justice; Rudi in Germany with his relentless passion for peace. Each looks beyond their own self-interest towards a greater cause – a now and a hoped-for future for others that’s worth staking one’s own life on. Mother Teresa: ‘Do something beautiful for God’. Robert Frost: ‘I took the road less travelled, and that made all the difference.’ Please God. Let that be my life too.

16 Comments

Mike Wilson

29/9/2022 04:05:11 pm

‘Iron sharpens iron Nick. You are a person that I have valued for your integrity & passion. May you also continue to inspire & empower

Nick Wright

29/9/2022 08:59:42 pm

Thank you, Mike. I hope you recognised yourself in the blog! I remember that, after we had worked together, I had a photo of you on my desk. When faced with hard situations where my courage or integrity was being challenged, I would try to imagine what you would do in that situation...and then try to do it too.

Simon Anderson

29/9/2022 10:21:22 pm

Hi Nick. I agree. It's one thing to admire a role model. It's another thing to follow their example. Many people admired Jesus. Few were willing to follow in his footsteps to a cross.

29/9/2022 10:23:38 pm

Hi Simon. I think that's a good point. I hope that the role models who inspire me most influence a tangible change in my own life too.

Sharon Webb

29/9/2022 10:27:06 pm

Nick, I read your piece with interest. Some psychologists say the qualities we admire in others are often the same qualities others see in us, yet we don't see in ourselves. When you paint a picture of your heroes, perhaps it reveals a picture of you too.

29/9/2022 10:34:15 pm

Hi Sharon. Yes, I'm familiar with the idea of projection. It is certainly true that those I regard as heroes and role models exemplify in practice those hopes, values and aspirations that I hold as most important in life. Perhaps, at some level, they represent idealised, externalised versions of something within me too. They each model a life and a stance that I dream of.

The flipside can also be true. I remember watching 'The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler' on TV, and then read the book on which it was based. It challenged the common notion that Hitler was something like a magician who somehow bewitched the German people. Instead, it proposed that Hitler represented the vision and values that others already hoped for.

29/9/2022 10:37:19 pm

Hello Nick. Yes, we can project the light side and the dark side of ourselves onto others. We see 'out there' what we don't see 'in here'. If it all goes wrong, we can say They did it to me rather than I chose them to do it.

29/9/2022 10:38:07 pm

Thank you, Sharon. You explained that well.

Jasmin

30/9/2022 09:19:19 am

Thank you, Nick - follower of Jesus - for honouring people who take the road less travelled.

I would like to acknowledge and salute all the warm-hearted people in the UK, Germany and Australia - especially the UK Christian bikers. I am immensely grateful for their unwavering love and support, for standing so unselfishly alongside the poorest of the poor.

My countless prayers to all. May Jesus bless you, and them, abundantly. As we, together, walk the road less travelled, may we leave footprints that signify joy for the poor.

30/9/2022 09:26:05 am

Thank you, Jasmin. I hope you recognised yourself in the blog! I have never met anyone who throws themselves at the feet of God and the poor so self-sacrificially and so persistently as you. I love your imagery of the footprints. It reminded me of 'Footprints in the Sand'. Thank you for all that you are and do to shine the light and love of Jesus so dazzlingly in this world.

Hannah Watkins

30/9/2022 09:31:06 am

Hi Nick. I love hearing your deep desire to make a difference. I'm too comfortable in my life. You inspire me to step out of my comfort zone and closer to the cutting edge - even if it hurts!

30/9/2022 09:43:09 am

Hi Hannah. Thank you for your encouragement and for such personal honesty. I sometimes wonder if my own life is too comfortable too. I have to keep (metaphorically) slapping myself to wake up. We only live once. The moment is now.

You may find that some of these short related pieces resonate?

https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/the-bleeding-edge
https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/bleeding-edge
https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/sensible

And these short piece feature Jasmin, whom I mentioned in the blog:

https://www.nick-wright.com/radical.html
https://www.nick-wright.com/a-radical-heart.html
https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/on-a-knife-edge

Francis Adams

30/9/2022 09:50:29 am

Hi Nick. The people you mention in the blog are all linked to causes that matter to you. Mother Teresa said Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.

To be honest, I'm less inspired by big causes and more by ordinary people around me who do little things that make a big difference. It's those people who matter to me, not a cause.

30/9/2022 10:18:19 am

Hi Francis - and thank you. That's a fair challenge. It's true that I'm inspired by people who live at the radical edge of a cause that matters to me. I'm inspired by how radically they are willing to live - putting everything on the line, so to speak - as well as by the nature of the cause itself.

At the same time, the 'cause' isn't, for me, an abstraction. It's how it touches real people's lives. Here's a brief example from Jasmin, whom I mention in the blog: https://www.nick-wright.com/candles.html. It's about transformation by love.

That said, there is a risk, for me, that I see and respond to a need 'out there' (e.g. in the Philippines) more readily than 'in here' (e.g. in the UK). I have the privilege of family, friends, neighbours and colleagues who do small, beautiful things that are truly life-giving. They inspire me too!

Denise Harriott

30/9/2022 06:51:45 pm

Nick, I want to do something beautiful for God. Where do I start?

30/9/2022 07:16:06 pm

Hi Denise. Your desire to do something beautiful for God is something beautiful in itself. :) I'm inspired by a moment in the Bible (John 2vs5) where Jesus' mother tells those around him, simply, 'Do whatever he tells you.'

Jesus gives us glimpses of what he wants us to do, e.g. 'Love God and love those around you' (Mark 12vs30-31) and in illustrative stories (parables) such as that of the good Samaritan (Luke 10vs25-37). The key is to love.

I pray and, if I feel prompted to an act of love - often in a way that feels like a strange intuition, or a realisation - I try to do it without over-thinking it. To do something beautiful for God is to allow his love to touch others through us.