“HAS-BEENS, OR ALWAYS-WILL-BE’S”

“Sometimes I think we’re just has-beens,” said my wife to me.

I couldn’t argue with her.  I felt pretty much the same.  I have always felt like a has-been, even when I was quite young.  However, I could console myself with the thought that I might someday be “a somebody.”  (Isn’t it surprising that we have has-beens, but not “ises”?  In other words, should someone who is at the top of their game be known as an “Is”?  Just a thought!)

Well, I am old now—and getting older by the day—so it is difficult for me to think that someday I’ll amount to something.  Is there any significance to old poops like me?

Well, I hope there is.  However, certain preliminary questions probably should be asked.

  • Has been what?
  • Who gets to decide that someone is a has-been?
  • Do the opinions of other people really matter at this point?
  • Does my own feeling of has-been-ness have anything to do with reality?
  • Where does God come into this matter of has-been-ness?
  • Is there still a place for has-beens who still might make some significant contribution in some manner?  (We’ll call such people “might-still-be’s”.)

Now, I did not say that I actually had answers to any of these preliminary questions.  I just said that such questions should be asked.

However, I will tell you how I replied to my wife’s comment, “Sometimes I think we’re just has-beens.”

“I believe,” I said, “that we are made by God for eternity.  Therefore, nobody is a has-been.  Everyone is an always-will-be.”

I don’t always feel that way, but that is what I deeply believe.  God is the granter and the guarantor of our significance.  Everyone lives to him.  There are no has-beens in God’s loving heart.

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