The Substructures of Life
“Hard pressure sculpts great character.”
It is often the depth of one’s life that determines the breadth of one’s work. But It is very true as well that it is life’s substructure — the foundation from which life is built upon — that is often neglected in favor of life’s superstructure.
Character is life’s substructure, and it is often neglected because it takes time to build. The journey from fragments to wholeness and coherence in character is not an over night one. It is those who have built depth in their character that have the capability and capacity to embark on the long road of obedience in the same direction. They are people with iron in their will; they are people who are able to stick with people, causes, and callings consistently through the thicks and thins of life.
In the realm of intellect, they have a consistent Weltanschauung that is founded upon a permanent set of convictions about fundamental truths. In the realm of emotions, they are stable and enmeshed in a web of unconditional love. In the realm of action, they have a permanent commitment to a calling that cannot be completed in a single life time. They are called by their vocations, and their lives are organized around their vocations.
Their lives’ vocation was not found from looking within and finding their passion; it was found by looking without and asking, “At what point do my talents and deep gladness meet the world’s deep need?” It didn’t really matter to them their expectations from life, but rather what life has expected from them. They have a keen awareness of their calling, and their calling is their raison d’être. Nietzsche has rightly observed, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
They are not just people who did great works; they are also great people who struggled against their weakness and sin. They may not be rich and famous, but they are mature and settled with a unity of purpose. They have moved from fragmentation to centredness — a state in which their restlessness is over, and their confusion about the meaning and purpose of life is calmed.
“From time immemorial, people have achieved glory by achieving great external things, but they have built great character by struggling against their inner sins. People become solid, stable, and worthy of self-respect because they have defeated or at lease struggled with their own demons.”
These are beautiful lives marked by a deep settled joy. These are blessed lives that are blessings as well.
