Facing Life on Our Feet

From all available evidence, it would seem that man was made for movement – that he was

made to face life on his feet, moving, working, thinking, growing, solving his problems, and meeting his

obligations with freedom and faith. Life means moving. Nothing that is alive stands still, and there is

nothing in nature or in human experience that does not suggest that man was made to face each day

with work and faith. Indeed, in the account of the Creation, the Lord God said that man should have

dominion over all the earth and told him to replenish and subdue it. These are words of much meaning.

They place upon us all the obligation to act on our environment, and they give us little justification for

succumbing easily to circumstances. And we should also act upon ourselves, and not be content always

as we are. Knowledge can be increased. Abilities can be improved. Appetites can be overcome. Desires

can be subdued. Weaknesses can be conquered. Life is a process of progress, and all of us are expected

to play our part in the eternal performance. Even the impaired are expected to perform whatever part

they can perform. If we can’t move on our feet, we can move whatever we can move. And when we

can’t move, we can think. The dominion man was given over all the earth means control also over

ourselves. In the words of Leonardo da Vinci: “You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that

over yourself.” Life was meant to be faced on our feet, with freedom and faith; and it was not meant

that we should succumb to circumstances – not to ourselves – but that we should improve upon our

own past in an eternal process. “You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over

yourself.”