My Sum Total (An excerp from my new book)

We are the sum total of our experiences, and life gives us so much to experience. It is not all good. But it is not all bad, either. It just is. And if we learn that all of it is a recipe for success in the hands of a creator, our sum total is amazing. To illustrate this, I will use three examples.

A Master Chef. A chef uses lots of ingredients to create. Each individual ingredient may taste terrible alone, but all together it makes a masterpiece. Each individual ingredient serves a purpose, and without it the meal may be too bland or too spice, too sweet or too tart, but together with all the other ingredients makes the meal just right.

An Artist. An artist uses more than one color to paint a picture worthy of display. Subtle hues, bright whites, pastels, brilliant colors, dark ominous dimensions and muted grays – all of which help paint the “story” he is wishing to tell. Each brush stoke, though singular, is intermixed with the others and creates what is known as a Work of Art.

An Orchestra. Though each instrument alone has merit and is worth of concert attendance, together there is something powerful that alone the instrument cannot produce. I love the saxophone or the flute and alone they are beautiful, but they are not able to create the impact that all the orchestra instruments together can provide. It takes every instrument playing in harmony to create a Magnum Opus.

Our Creator is creating a Masterpiece; a Work of Art; a Magnum Opus. However, He is not doing this apart from our involvement. We (more like the orchestra) have a choice to follow the conductor or play our own music.

Three things come into play with the orchestra. The Conductor, The Performer, and The Instrument. For sake of this illustration, I’d like to say that The Conductor is God – He has a plan for the music He has written and is creating. (In this case) His plan and music is written and is being conducted perfectly. The variables are The Performer and the The Instrument. The Performer (you guessed it) is us. The Instrument is our circumstances or our life experiences. The orchestra is only going to be as good as its performers and its instruments.

Each performer must get acquainted with their instrument. They must know its highs and its lows, its ability to create sounds, and its limitations. The performer must use their instrument to the best of their ability in order to play the notes as clearly and as boldly as possible. The instrument is only a tool. Even the worst instrument in the hands of a skilled, knowledgeable performer can make beautiful music. This is why some people (performers) can live a life admired by all, and have had suffered the worst of circumstances (instruments).

The Conductor (in this analogy) is flawless. The Perform (in any case) is not. And The Instrument (in most cases) is completely irrelevant. God will make beautiful music of your life if you will keep your eyes on Him, read the notes He wrote for us, and follow His lead.