Be a Doer!

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them”—Henry David Thoreau, Walden.

In 1781, at age 14, John Quincy Adams (who later became the sixth president of the United States) was sent to Russia as a private secretary and French interpreter for the U.S. diplomat.

Less than two years later he made his way across Europe alone and became a secretary to the commission negotiating with the British for the end of the American Revolutionary War.

Skilled in several languages and with a keen sense of diplomacy, John Quincy was quite the prodigy. He became secretary of State under James Monroe before being elected as president of the United States. After one term as president, he was elected to nine consecutive terms in the House of Representatives (Robert V. Remini, John Quincy Adams, 2002).

Examples like this demonstrate that you are never too young to prepare to accomplish great things! Young people have slain giants and ruled and reformed nations (consider David and Josiah of biblical fame: 1 Samuel 17 and 2 Chronicles 34).

Most people, though, live lives of regret about missed opportunities. Like the stern father who chastised his son by saying that when George Washington was his son’s age, he was a proficient surveyor. The son shot back, “But when he was your age, he was the president of the United States!”

It is easy to look back and see the missed opportunities of our lives and compare ourselves with others. The challenge when you are still young is to maximize the opportunities that come your way before they pass.

The world is an adventure

A good way to think about life is to see it as a type of frontier. In early American history, the opportunities were everywhere if you had the desire, vision and means to capture them. Cities grew from intersections along river crossings and mountain paths. Necessity was the mother of invention, and urgent needs provoked clever solutions.

Today, you might think that there is nothing new to do with your life, and you could settle for a rut or routine. Everyone has the same 24-hour day, and most in the Western world today have the means and opportunities to do just about anything one can imagine.

Perhaps the problem is that we don’t imagine much, but instead become distracted by the array of diversions that entertain us. I heard a frustrated father comment that it is hard to compete for your children’s attention with stunning music videos and pulse-pounding video games that are so real you get lost in the fantasy. Life might seem dull and unexciting when you compare your world with what can be produced in a studio and served up with surround sound and high-definition pictures.

But at the end of such entertainment, what have you done? Where have you ventured, and what have you accomplished? Wise and rich King Solomon was able to experiment with fun and entertainment to the maximum level, and what did he find? “But I found that this, too, was meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 2:1, New Living Translation throughout).

Why would you settle for someone else’s adventures instead of making your own?

Life is what you make it!

Rather than getting lost in fictional adventures, set goals for yourself. Life with its normal stresses and challenges may seem boring unless you have an action list. This could include dreams, aspirations, places to visit and things to do. Hobbies can become careers and talents can be developed just about anywhere.

Decide to be a doer and get involved in athletics, music and challenges that that develop your mind. In our neighborhood a young man fascinated by motors used a rebuilt lawnmower engine to power a motorized homemade wagon. This loud, ugly but workable machine was the proud invention of a tinkerer. Who knows? One day he might be the engineer to build the next generation of smart cars!

Wise King Solomon might seem like a spoilsport when he talks about the meaninglessness of life. But when you get to his conclusions, you get a bigger perspective: “Young people, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do” (Ecclesiastes 11:9).

Set goals—big goals—but always do it with God in mind.

Lurker or doer?

Are you building a life, or are you just another mesmerized lurker—a passive spectator of the graphical imagery that sucks the time out of your day, being entertained but offering little discovery?

Why not disconnect from the traps of television, video games and the Internet and do something. You’ll find joy in a sense of accomplishment if you determine to be a doer rather than a watcher.

Larry Greider is a pastor of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, in Florida.