You don’t have to jump at every opportunity to have a great life …
A couple days ago I noticed the picture above of the Peanuts characters ice skating. I was almost surprised at how viewing the art immediately brought to mind my feeble, failed attempts at ice skating.
If it wouldn’t have been for hosting teens on outings to an ice skating rink, this is one activity I would have never tried because I’ve never had an interest in it. And having strapped on a pair of ice skates, I can tell you this is one activity I’m certainly not cut out for!
Actually, I was surprised at my ability to stay on my feet while perched on a sliver of metal while trekking across ice, but I certainly didn’t glide with grace around the rink. I made an appearance for the sake of getting the group on the ice, and then I headed for the bleachers.
As I recalled my ice skating adventure, I thought about how it is not necessary to jump at every opportunity that comes our way in order to have an enjoyable, rich, fulfilling life. Certainly my life would be no worse had I never tried ice skating, and I can say had I passed on the opportunity, it would have not been a loss for myself.
While I have tried many things and taken on many ventures and adventures in life, I have purposely passed on several others. I haven’t done everything others have tried to coax me to do. Some things are of no interest to me, and that’s okay, the content and quality of my life won’t suffer from my lack of interest in them.
The challenge of living well is hopefully having the wisdom to know when to dive into an opportunity, and when it’s okay to let one pass. Sometimes we’ll reap great satisfaction for taking on an opportunity, and sometimes we’ll discover we passed on something that could have been life-changing! Ransom Riggs captures that experience of living in his telling of “Hollywood Miscalculations: 5 Famous Actors and the Roles They Turned Down” …
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Cary Grant turned down director Robert Broccoli’s offer to play James Bond. Regret it? Not so much. He already had a great career and would not have had time to do more than a single film. An ongoing franchise would have been out of the question. Broccoli ended up with Sean Connery who turned the franchise into a veritable brand.
Will Smith turned down the role of Neo in THE MATRIX. Regret it? He says no. “I would have absolutely messed it up.” Smith went on to explain, “At that point I wasn’t smart enough as an actor to let the movie be — whereas Keanu was.” At least he’s “smart enough” now to see that.
Michael Madsen turned down the role of Vincent Vega in the highly acclaimed film PULP FICTION. Instead, John Travolta famously took the role and re-launched his career into the stratosphere. Did Michael regret it? Michael “Who?” Nuff said.
Sean Connery, who so fortuitously won the role of Bond, went on to have a glorious career. When offered the role of Gandalf in THE LORD OF THE RINGS he declined. Regret it? You betcha. Not because he needed more notoriety, but because he passed on the perk of 15 percent of the worldwide box office receipts. Had he played the role he would have pocketed as much as $400 million!
Hollywood heartthrob Steve McQueen turned down the role of Sundance in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID because Paul Newman wouldn’t give him top billing (if he had, would the movie have been called THE SUNDANCE KID AND BUTCH CASSIDY?). He later turned down the role of Popeye Doyle in THE FRENCH CONNECTION, much to the delight of Gene Hackman who won an Oscar for the role.
Finally, McQueen also turned down Francis Ford Coppola’s offer to film APOCALYPSE NOW because he wouldn’t budge on his $3 million per movie take on the deal. Martin Sheen was happy to fill the void, to the delight of critics worldwide. Regret it? Who knows. McQueen seemed determined to live his life on his own terms. He left his mark on Hollywood in his short life, but may have gone down as one of the greatest ever had he ventured through these other doors of opportunity.
It’s not likely you’ll get through this life without some regrets on missed opportunities. The Apostle Paul encourages us to be wise about the real, and the important, opportunities that come our way …
“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do,” Ephesians 5:15-17.
We can potentially eliminate — or at least minimize — regrets over lost opportunities by heeding Paul’s instructions:
Like my tryst with ice skating, they’ll be opportunities you take that will be empty, perhaps even a waste of time, but it won’t do any harm to yourself or others. You just move on to the next opportunity to live fully for the Lord.
In that case, I won’t mention my painful experiment at roller skating …
Scotty
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