Jeeves

P. G. Wodehouse gave us a character playing the role of a butler, Jeeves.  Jeeves doesn’t just work for and with anyone.  He is associated with Bernie Wooster.  Bernie is a lovable, bumbling idiot, who also happens to be old English society.  In the scheme of things one initially assumes Jeeves is merely a comedic foil.  I suspect the writer gave us something far more powerful; an example of what it is like to be truly powerful.  The ultimate power comes in knowing and yet doing, being and yet serving, participating and yet living out one’s values and priorities.
 
Ironically the character Jeeves has peaked at us throughout history.  The best the world has seen is always visible on multiple levels.  It isn’t just about power.  In fact power seems to diminish in its importance as time passes.  It isn’t just about status.  The reality of status is always relative to the perspective one takes.  It is never about your parents and heritage.  History always puts this in its appropriate place.  It is about what one does with one’s life.
 
In one commentary of a supreme power the writer noted that “they'll see that you take care of the poor, that you take care of poor people in trouble, provide a warm, dry place in bad weather, provide a cool place when it's hot.  Brutal oppressors are like a winter blizzard and vicious foreigners like high noon in the desert.  But you, shelter from the storm and shade from the sun, shut the mouths of the big-mouthed bullies.”  (Isaiah 25.4, 5)
 
There is a lesson for you and me in the character of Jeeves.  Ultimately – in the short term and in the long, life is about community.  We are what we do – professing something is fine, but it is our choices, decisions, and actions which tell the story of our heart.  We paint our life’s picture – within our hearts and mind is the ultimate gift of God, the freedom to choose. 
 
The play is already underway.  You and I are players.  Welcome to life’s stage today.