The WOW Factor
It happened again. I had my weekly conversation with the television. To be honest, it was not a conversation. It was a ‘shout down!” I was fed up again with the toxic box. I was tired of the lies, the false illusions, the narcissism and all the other stuff that makes me aware of my own human frailties. That brings me to some personal reflection.
“What do you fear most as you grow older?” I have never been asked this question but I have thought of it many times. Now that I have some right to the term “senior citizen” I can finally shape my perspective. What I fear most is losing the WOW factor.
Some people seem to grow gentler and sweeter as their age. Many of them, I note are nice people who live largely from day to day on the surface of things. They seldom question why and are generally content with whatever happens. I am not one of those people. I sometimes wish I were but I am not. My discernment works. I am compelled to evaluate and I rightly recognize that I may be becoming just another curmudgeon. Yes, it is true. I often have to wrench myself from that downward spiral to re order my focus on what is true and established.
Sooner or later as we grow older, if we are honest, we begin to see beyond the façade of our existence. We begin to see the masked social phoniness of our own illusions about ourselves and all of human life. This can lead to one of two things: cynicism or a grounded optimism. False optimism which is not grounded is just cynicism by another name. Essentially, empty headed optimists usually take the position that there is no reason to address the ugly. In effect, that turns out to be the worst kind of cynicism because such “optimists” simply lack the faith both to see and to address things as they are.
This brings us to the WOW factor. The WOW factor is merely the power to get beyond all of this and to see the beauty in life. It is the power to venerate, to see the transcendent, or to worship what is beyond this frayed and fractured world.
That is essentially what the writer of Hebrews does for the church enduring tribulation. The writer lifts the eyes of the believer to the transcendent nature of Christ who was brutalized, crucified and rose from the grave to ascend into the presence of God. We see him depicted in the beginning of the book as having “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3) Then continuing, the writer takes us through continuing images of Jesus’ mastery of temptation and trial to say, not once but seven times, “therefore.” Each of these “therefores” encourages a WOW response and a continued confidence that in the end God is the great player in our lives.
Perhaps this is not enough for many people. However, the only way I have ever been able to keep the WOW factor in my life is with the simple formula offered in the end of the book. Note that after the writer has given us the effect of such faith in the lives of the many in Hebrews 11. He says:
“Therefore, brothers, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:2-3)
This is not pie in the sky because the writer of Hebrews encourages the believer to engage the issues and not to “grow weary or lose heart.” The Christian believer does not believe in fuzzy utopias on earth. Rather, the believer labors on because He knows that the Author of all will be the Finisher of all. There is no need to let disappointment in ourselves or in others stop us from living at full tilt and doing those things that bring some light into a world that works always to extinguish the good, the true and the beautiful. That is the way it is. However, that is not the way it ends. WOW!
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Anyone who has arrived at a stage in life who is able to see anything good in their lives needs to recognize that there was someone in their past that had a significant role in their present “good.” This should inspire a heart of gratitude and keeps us all from falling into the abyss of personal arrogance.
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The Las Vegas Singer
Vegas is his world-
the only world he knows.
He has lived there so long
he sees the world through
the prism of Mirage.
A friend saw him once,
somewhere,
without his stage clothes;
his face cadaver-like,
skin drawn taut by surgeons
into a skin mask.
All of us who know aging
sorrow for him
and all de Leons
whose large presences
shrink beneath coats of armor
while the oven of the sun
fries our frames.
Let us take comfort
that ,though like him,
many still sing
with voices found long ago inside.
We can only hope this singer
of the garish lights
still has the song inside
and like a caged bird
longs for winged flight.
