A Closer Walk

Some people are born into money. Most of us aren't. Some people are born with genius intellect. Most of us aren't. Some people are born with talent to play sports. Many of us aren't. Some people are born with talent to sing or play musical instruments. Many of us aren't. Anyone can look at this short list of things some people are born with and feel deprived. But each of us can look inside ourselves and find something we can do that we are fairly proficient at. Maybe even pretty good at. Professional athletes may be born with the talent to play; but that talent needs developing. That's why they practice. Some professional musicians have said in interviews that they practice six or eight hours a day. Talent and ability need developing.
So what is the so-called average person supposed to do? The person who can't throw a baseball ninety-eight miles an hour? The person who can't run down a basketball court and jump in the air at the free throw line and dunk a basketball? What is the so-called average person, like you and I, supposed to do? Well, here is what one person said about this. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are,” Theodore Roosevelt, (1858-1919), the 26th President of the United States. So, according to Mr. Roosevelt, we should do whatever we can, with whatever it is that we have, from wherever we might be. Does this statement from a former president require us to be born into money? No. Does it require genius intellect? No. Does it require athletic or musical talent? No. Why? Because we start with whatever we have. Then we do whatever we can. And we do this whatever it is we do, starting from wherever we are. And anything we do repeatedly we will become more proficient at, because talent and/or ability must be developed. If we continue doing whatever we can it's likely our Heavenly Father will open our eyes to more opportunities to do what we can. And again, we will become more proficient at doing it.
Sometimes life requires us to do things we would much prefer not to do. Yet do them we must. Want to spend a morning or afternoon at the hospital having tests done, lab run, and so on? No, but do it we must. Want to go to court to pay a traffic ticket? No, but do it we must. (If this bit sounds a little like Yoda that was an unintentional bonus.) Nevertheless, we can do these things we would rather not do with grace, and kindness, and gentleness. But they still need the doing.
As far as doing what we can Mother Theresa was once asked by a reporter something like this, “But what about all the people you are not helping?” Mother Theresa responded, “I am not called to be successful, I am called to be faithful.” Faithful means doing or carrying out what our Lord has called us to do, or asked us to do. So what is that? “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world,” James 1:27 NASB. Our God seems to pay special attention to widows and orphans to ensure they are provided for and taken care of. Concordia bills itself as the “Orphan Train Town,” and the orphan trains were just such an endeavor. Street kids were provided homes and families out west by the “Ladies Aid Society of New York,” “The New York Foundling,” operated by the Catholic Sisters of Charity, and other organizations such as that. Many east coast cities had organizations similar to these. Churches are commanded in the New Testament to look out for widows and orphans and provide care as needed.
No matter what this “doing what we can” involves there will be times when it doesn't work out like we hoped or planned. But take heart. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts,” Winston S. Churchill, 1874-1965, Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War 2. Success is not final. This too will pass. Failure is not fatal. This too will pass. But the courage to continue on is what counts. Mr. Churchill knew of what he spoke. The British Expeditionary Force had been pushed to the coast of France by the German Army during the early days of World War 2. All the British soldiers were on the beach at Dunkirk with their backs to the English Channel and the German army at their front, hoping for evacuation. What followed was the greatest civilian boat rescue in history. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of British citizens took their personal boats to France to get their soldiers out of there. Which they did. They did what they could, with what they had, from where they were. And those soldiers lived to fight another day. Unfortunately, all their equipment was left behind which hindered the British war effort. The motion picture “Dunkirk” is a pretty good portrayal of this evacuation seen primarily through the eyes of one family. Be forewarned: it's pretty graphic. By the way,  I read recently that the British pilots assigned to air squadrons using the brand new and now famous “Spitfire” fighter airplane saw their first combat missions during the Battle of Dunkirk. They were trying to provide at least some air cover protection for the unarmed soldiers and the boats trying to pick them up. The soldiers which were on the beach and were being attacked by the German Luftwaffe. And the Spitfires were engaging German aircraft whenever they could.
So we could follow President Roosevelt's advice to do what we can, with what we have, where we are. Whether that is a little or a lot, that would certainly build up the Kingdom of God. It would honor our Heavenly Father. And we would be pleasing in His sight as we did it. “Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad,” 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 NASB.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance,” Psalm 33:4 NASB.