If You Can't Beat them, Don't

They say we need to win. Life is a battle and we always have to emerge the victors in each episode. Well, that is if you're a joiner. Joiners join anything and everything under the sun. They can't imagine life without joining. They say no man is an island. But Johnny the Castaway managed to survive well for years alone in an island and managed to rejoin society without becoming a joiner. [Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay].

But learning a lot as I grew up, I discovered none of what they say are true. You don't have to be a winner and losing battles is not that bad, actually. Some losses are wins, in fact, if you have lived long enough as a Nonjoiner or a Cracked Pot. You realize that there's nothing more important in life than laughing and finding a lot of things ridiculous.

Cracked Pot is my new Facebook page. It's Nonjoiner's long lost brother. He knew he had a lost brother somewhere on the planet and recently found him and they were reunited at last. Not joined together but reunited. Now they can live happily ever after. One is independent minded, the other weird minded. But they sound similar. They're one spirit.

And there's no need to "beat" anybody unless someone's really asking for it or seriously threatening your freedom to be your unique self. And by "beating," I mean being a nonjoiner and cracked pot at the same time. If you don't know what that means, regularly checkout Cracked Pot and Nonjoiner posts. It's the only way you can fathom the deep insight.

In case you lose good judgment and are tempted to beat somebody or some folks and cannot, then don't. It's not true that you should join them if you can't beat them. Competition is a big lie. It's GOD alone who decides victory and defeat, not our efforts. If you compete and think you have bested someone else, you're a pity. You don't understand life one bit. 

You simply do what you need to do and do it well. Period. Tomorrow, try to do better, not because you're competing with yourself or anyone (or proving your worth), but because you need to do better. Period. Never compare yourself with anyone because we each are given different life missions, as Peter learned when he asked Jesus about what would happen to John. Just do what you're told. Period.

They say we need to belong. We need to fellowship. Well, I have no argument against that. But it doesn't mean we need to join. If you think you need to, suit yourself. I won't stand in your way. But don't force me to. I don't need to join to belong.

Like the body. A finger or toe doesn't need to "join" the body to be part of it. It already is. Yet, every part of the body knows that a toe cannot be a finger, or an eye cannot be an ear. The body knows that. It's a given. But "joining," in many people's minds, means we need to be the same and follow the same pattern. Joining means being a robot.

But cracked pots are not like that. They understand how every pot is unique (though they may look alike), often made possible by their cracks. No two cracks are the same. Each crack has a different story to tell. And you cannot "join" a membership to get a uniform crack. Churches should know this, and yet church people are often the last to know about it.