Forget Yoda - Just Try

Ok, I know I’ve already angered the legions of die-hard Star Wars fans with my title, but give me a chance.

Every year, it seems there is a single movie line students can’t keep out of their papers. For the first several years after I started teaching, “Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you’re going to get” (thank you Forest Gump) appeared in what seemed like every other essay my students submitted. How many times did I beg, plead, and outright forbid my students from using that line anywhere in their papers? I couldn’t tell you, but it was enough to make me question my sanity.

Eventually, time pushed on and we moved past good ol’ Forest. Though I will admit, the mystery chocolate line does occasionally resurface (what kind of chocolates are these kids buying, anyway? All the boxes I get have a cute little chocolate map so you DO know EXACTLY what you are getting).

Still, the one that has had real staying power comes from the sage of Star Wars himself: Master Yoda. Though it certainly ebbs and flows in popularity and frequency, year after year it makes at least a few appearances. I can certainly see why. It’s short, pithy, and that sort of tough love advice people love to give but hate to receive.

You know it already, don’t you?

“Do, or do not. There is no try.”

There is a short clip of it here if you want to watch. Or, I could lend you a few essays to read. Just kidding…sort of.

This little gem is from Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Yoda shares it during Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training. It’s the Star Wars version of “Eye of the Tiger” for Rocky Balboa. Anyway, training isn’t going well. Luke is trying to use the force but keeps falling short. When Yoda gives him another bigger task, Luke responds, “I’ll try.”

Yoda isn’t having it. “Do, or do not. There is no try,” he responds. Now, I think in the context of the scene, his point is Luke isn’t really trying with any expectation of success. He’s using ‘try’ as a copout. His response couples a little authority questioning with the desire for minimal effort. Yoda’s point, it would seem, is more to his mentality, which isn’t really wanting to “try” at all.

Even so, I think when we take that little line out of the film and start throwing it around out of context, it becomes something I can’t get behind.

In fact, in our faith, that mentality can become an excuse to not try.

Years ago, when Bible reading was more of a happenstance occurrence for me, I remember hearing several speakers talk about making reading the Bible a priority every day. There were valid reasons. There were even strategies for how to make it happen. I didn’t disagree with the idea; in fact, I felt that was a change I both wanted and needed. The prospect of totally shifting my daily routine, of making that time (in my mind I would need an hour, at least) was daunting. “Doing” it, that is, completing it and being successful, didn’t feel possible, so I didn’t even try. “Do, or do not. There is no try,” right?

Wrong!

My perfectionist mindset coupled with my desire to please (you can read more about my struggles with those here) didn’t have room for “trying” and possibly failing or falling short. So I didn’t try at all. Instead, I made excuses and even rationalized why I didn’t need to spend time with God every day, though if others felt they did, I supported it.

Ridiculous!

What would have happened if I did “try”? Maybe I would have read two days of the week? Maybe I would have only spent five minutes with God? Maybe I would have only prayed and not gotten to any reading?

Those would be WINS! Two days with God is better than none. Five minutes is better than none. Praying any amount is better than none.

But, because I didn’t feel I could “do,” I didn’t even “try.”

I’ve seen others, often newer believers, scared to join a Bible study because they don’t feel they know enough.

Some won’t teach a Bible study or lead a service project because they don’t feel they will do it well.

Some see a need in the community, and they take no action to help because there is too much need, too much to do, and there is no way they could make a difference.

So many times, our perception of what God is calling us toward feels like a carnival hall of mirrors - exaggerated, warped, and so much larger than it really is, or at least larger than it is when God is with us.

So we do nothing. We don’t try because we are afraid of failing.

After all, Yoda said trying isn’t an option. We either do or don’t do, so we don’t do.

Jesus says something a little different in Matthew 7: 7-8. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

To me, this is Jesus inviting us to try and promising that if we just try, if we take one step forward, he will meet us and help us the rest of the way. We ask, he gives. We look, he finds. All we have to do is knock, for goodness sake, and he opens the door.

What if, today, you found just one thing to try.

One. Little. Thing.

What if you read your Bible for three minutes right now? Close this blog and pick a book or verse. Don’t have your Bible nearby? No problem. There are all kinds of resources online.

What if you prayed tonight before you went to bed?

What if you just sat in on a Bible study? They won’t make you talk. You can just listen.

What if you did one good thing for another person?

What if, what if, what if, what if…What if we stopped making excuses?

It comes down to this: What if you forget the pressure of “doing” and failing or not failing? What if you remember Jesus is infinitely better than Yoda (as great as Yoda is)? What if you just trust him to throw open the door you’re thinking about knocking on?

What if you just try?