“Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.”
~Warren Buffett
This dialogue in The Vampire Diaries caught my eye. I wanted to share. It’s about giving up and what I feel when faced with the impossible.
Stefan (vampire): “I’ve seen a lot of evil, Matt, more than you can imagine,” Stefan said. “I’ve even lived it. It’s always going to be a part of me, no matter how I fight it. Sometimes I think the whole human race is evil, much less my kind…I can’t tell you there’s a point or if things are ever going to turn out all right.” Stefan looked straight into Matt’s eyes and spoke deliberately. “But I’ve got another question for you. So what?”
Matt (human) stared. “So what?”
“Yeah, so what?”
“So what if the universe is evil and if nothing we do to try and change it can really make a difference?” Matt’s voice was gaining volume in disbelief.
“Yeah, so what?” Stefan leaned forward. “So what are you going to do, Matt, if every bad thing you’ve said is true? What are you going to do personally? Are you going to stop fighting and swim with the sharks?”
Matt was grasping the back of his chair. “What are you talking about?”
“You can do that, you know. Damon (evil vampire) says so all the time. You can join up with the evil side, the winning side. And nobody can really stop you, because the universe is that way, why shouldn’t we be that way too?”
“Like hell!” Matt exploded. His blue eyes were searing and he had half risen from his chair. “That’s Damon’s way, maybe! But just because it’s hopeless doesn’t mean it’s all right to stop fighting. Even if I knew it was hopeless, I’d still have to try. I have to try, damn it!”
“I know because I feel the same way,” Stefan continued. “There’s no excuse for giving up just because it looks like we’re going to lose. We have to try–because the other choice is surrender.”
I know, I know. I finished this study up months ago. The thing is – there’s an epilogue. Since it was such a great study I felt compelled to complete the whole book (this is not a common occurence). I’m glad I did because I found this:
Were there but some deep, holy spell, whereby
Always I should remember thee…
Lord, see thou to it, take thou remembrance’s load:
Only when I bethink me can I cry;
Remember thou, and prick me with love’s goad.
When I can no more stir my soul to move,
And life is but the ashes of the fire;
When I can but remember that my heart
Once used to live and love, long and aspire–
Oh, be thou then the first, the one thou art;
Be thou the calling, before all answering love,
And in me wake hope, fear, and boundless desire.
~George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul
David says this phrase in 1 Samuel 17, as he tells Saul why he should let him fight Goliath. David was able to defend his sheep from a lion and a bear prior to his meeting with Goliath.
Prior to his meeting with Goliath. A key point highlighted in today’s Streams in the Desert devotion. Without the lion, David might not have been prepared for his meeting with Goliath. As the author says, “Every difficulty that presents itself to us, if we receive it in the right way, is God’s opportunity…When the “lion” comes, recognize it as God’s opportunity no matter how rough the exterior…May God open our eyes to see Him, whether in temptations, trials, dangers, or misfortunes.”
Amen.