What has your life prepared you for?
For Philippe Petit his life prepared him for the wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York.
Sully Sullenberger’s life prepared him to land a airliner safely in the Hudson River saving the lives of 155 people.
A favorite story about Picasso sums this idea up very well.
Picasso was sitting at a table outside a Paris cafe. A woman came up to him and asked him to draw something for her on a napkin. He complied, doodling as only he could. After he quickly finished he requested the French equivalent of $5,000. Agast the woman said — “but it only took you 2 minutes!” Smiling, the great man replied — “no Madam, it took me my whole life.”
What has your life prepared you to do? Can you say it out loud? Do you think it is nothing important? If so I suspect you are wrong. I think there is something you are very well qualified to do, something quite important. Part of your qualification to do this is the life you have lived so far.
Do you know what it is? Tell me about it if you can.
4 comments
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February 17, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Debbie
What has my life prepared me to do? Wow – what a question! I honestly cannot answer specifically. I still feel like my life is a work in progress. It’s not that I feel that I am not prepared for anything, but that I feel that I am prepared for whatever God sends my way.
February 24, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Bill
Frank, I feel like all my life I have been learning skills to do many things, but one thing I am not prepared for is my own death. I think our culture does not prepare us well for that eventuality.
February 24, 2009 at 1:54 pm
frankwinters
Bill, you have taken this thought to an ultimate point or extreme corner. I think this way too. Is life preparation for death and transfiguration to another form of life or is death the end of everything? As you imply the culture used to have answers in the religion that most people accepted. Now , for many of us, the culture is empty on this subject. But there are answers, I think. However, now we need to seek them for ourselves.
October 14, 2009 at 1:17 pm
pete v
my entire life has prepared me well to doodle on napkins.