It was election day here in New Zealand last Saturday and as I stood in line to cast my vote I started a conversation with an elderly English gentleman.
He had come to New Zealand in 1968 on a world trip.
Running out of money, he decided to stay.
‘Well, why wouldn’t you?’ he commented.
We both discussed how wonderful it was to come out on Election day and express our democratic right. It was part of being a citizen and a member of the community.
To know that your opinion mattered just as much as the next person.
Democracy – love it.
I also wondered about all those candidates casting their own votes.
How strange it must seem to see your own name on a ballot paper and having to choose whether to vote for yourself or not.
I wonder if their spouses voted for them!
Then later discovering that thousands of unknown voters also placed a tick alongside your name.
The closest I have come to this situation is when I entered Pastoral ministry.
The two churches where I have served had a Church government system where the pastoral candidate is presented to the church for consideration with a vote being taken. My acceptance was unanimous.
Have you voted for yourself?
It’s a serious question. Many of us have little confidence in ourselves. That we can make the right decisions. To take on the future and make wise choices.
But if I was going to pick the best candidate to live your life then it would have to be you.
Thousands of others would agree with me, and place the tick in your box.
Life can be tough at times.
We often want to run from it or fight against it. It’s so easy to throw up our hands and live a ‘Que sera’ existence of whatever will be will be.
My vote goes with the Man or Woman in the arena.
My vote goes to you.
It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs, who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
but who does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls
who neither know victory nor defeat.Theodore Roosevelt
So I am placing a tick in the box next to your name. I trust you will be placing a tick in the box next to mine.
Quotes to consider
- The more you give in to your fears, the more they grow. Avoiding all risk is not the way to building new confidence. David Riddell
- The only person who can pull me down is myself, and I’m not going to let myself pull me down anymore. C. JoyBell C.
- Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. C.S. Lewis
Questions to answer and leave a comment below or anonymously
- What would happen in your self-belief if you could see a giant God penned ‘tick’ next to your life?
- What line in the ‘Man in the Arena’ spoke to you the most?
- How do you vote for yourself?
Barry Pearman
2 thoughts on “Have You Voted For You Yet?”
Barry, I have just discovered your posts. I so much appreciate your insights. I resonated with “there is no effort without error and shortcoming” because I’ve spent my 78 years afraid of making a mistake (or being found out!) Thank you. And, yes, I do mark a big tick — and a heart — beside your name.
Thanks Cheryl, big tick next to you as well.