I have always enjoyed hearing Frank Sinatra sing “My Way,” without particularly agreeing with all of the lines, at least as they might apply to me. Christopher Morley said, “There is but one success—to be able to spend your life in your own way.” And that is what Frank Sinatra did, and I do believe that the song, ‘My Way,’ was written for and about him. (from Morley’s point of view)
When we think about that concept carefully, we begin to realize that regardless of our circumstances, rich, poor, talented or common, the life we live, is lived our way. We may hear a person say about another that, “He did only what he was told to do.” Another will say, “Well, I can’t live your life for you; you have to decide for yourself how you are going to live.” Whether a person is dependent on another or free of any obligation to another, whatever he does in life is based on a decision that came out of his head. Sometimes we do things because we are pressured to do them a certain way by someone else only to find out it was not satisfactory. We may then say, “Well, we tried it their way and it didn’t work, so I’m going to do it my way.” When they try it their way, it may not be very satisfactory either. In the end though, they can live with the result because it was done their way.
On occasion I have observed the pride demonstrated by one who gained a result that I would have been ashamed to call my own. Because the person had done it their way, it was theirs. Pride of accomplishment can’t be denied. Whether it be a home built by someone without proper materials or without construction skills, an oil painting done with little talent, etc., it matters not; pride will be written in the face of the doer.
I have written how we, like snowflakes, vary from one to another. There are no two alike, whether it be a snowflake or a human being. That is such an amazing concept to me; it is hard for me to imagine that it can be so. Billions of snowflakes and billions of people and yet there are no two that are exactly alike. That may be the reason that every person can say, about their life and times, I did it ‘my way.’ Why? Because no one else can do it your way because no one else is like you; you are different. You were made to be different. You are a unique spirit child of your Heavenly Father and a unique human being born from the loins of two other unique individuals.
Life is wondrous to behold and to contemplate, and everyone will see it from a little different perspective. It is much like looking through a kaleidoscope. What I see will be different than what you see, because in the transfer of the Kaleidoscope from my hand to yours the colored glass chips will shift and give an altogether different pattern. Because we see things from our perspective, we are going to respond to life differently. We live two different, but similar, lives. We really can’t help but to live our life our way, even though our lives are influenced by other’s lives. Like Frank Sinatra we can all legitimately sing, I did it ‘My Way.’ May God bless us all to try to keep God’s way in the mix somehow. (“My Way” lyrics by: Shawn C. Carter, Paul Anka, Claude Frankois, Giles Thibaut.)