A smell, the weather, a certain sound, a book, a song, a painting, a color, a texture.
So many things capture memories, trigger the recall of things that have been- things that are. The best ones are those you don’t seek I think. The memories you don’t conjure up. They just appear, they just show up in a dream, on a walk, sitting with your friend, your lover.
They take you through time and capture something that was hidden in your brain, a feeling, a thought, a place you’d forgotten, a person who has long since not been part of your life. That is the building blocks of who you are. Those are the things that preserve the fabric of your being.
Yet, some other days seem void of things, almost like they come and go so quickly that they blend in with each other. That is when we need to remember what is really important.
Don’t run away from it, don’t force it or be angry because that day has come and gone with what seems like no purpose. Just embrace the passage of time and be aware of every small victory, every simple opportunity to provide grace to those around us. It only makes those empty days full.
Recently, some very wise men spoke to me and others on the perspective of “restoration.” It was profoundly interesting that it applies in so much of our lives each day.
We work to restore those things that are broken in our lives by doing some fairly outlandish things. Just like those projects to help restore the broken things around us, we work to restore ourselves and others.
As we try to fix what is broken in our relationships, what is broken in our lives – at work, in our families, with our friends, with our own spirituality… our chances of getting it wrong are very high. We tend to count on our own sensibilities to reason out our restoration.
Or worse yet we may be working on restoring others around us. It may be easy to point at others and see their imperfections. It may even be reassuring that by doing so, we can tuck away our own need for restoration. Do you know those “fixers” that work to fix up others in their lives, but miss working on themselves? The focus is elsewhere.
Personal restoration can be kind of like a facade. A false front that has little content behind it. Maybe just go for the quick fix: If “only I ” do this one thing- everything will be better. Life is moving kind of fast, so we hunt down that magic thing that will solve the problems in our lives, will help to mend the issues that seem to be looming and keep us from the better life, keep us from being a better person.
But ultimately I think, the truth is in how we focus our energy, how we make sure that we are doing those things we can do and putting our trust in the outcome. The expectation may be different from the result. Perhaps we need to invest in ourselves? Some may see that as selfish, but it is the genuine investment in our spirituality. The focus on inspecting our hearts and our souls to know that we are right and true to ourselves.
Easily it can be said that we will never achieve perfection. As humans it is not in our DNA. Nor should it be.
We will strive for it.
We will find ourselves constantly falling short.
We will measure ourselves by what someone else may expect us to be. Or perhaps we may measure ourselves on our own perspectives of what we think we should be.
But in the end- we will fall short.
It is what you do with that will become part of your self-realization, It will be the context in which you are able to live your life. You can choose to measure yourself to perfection, and in some ways that is a good thing. It is the motivator by which we can create our standards to live by. But if we are delusional in using that to apply to the adage that “winning is everything” we may find ourselves in a place that is hard to maintain.
We are rewarded often in our lives for working hard to strive for things. We want to avoid failure, We do not want to be seen as weak or unable to perform to the standards in which we are expected. In our families, in school, at work in our relationships we are always trying to measure up. Accepting that perfection will not happen does not make you mediocre. It makes you human.
We know that we were made imperfect. As humans God has made us that way to allow us to be – well – human. Perfection would be reserved for only one, and He left this earth centuries ago.
So a first step in making your life happier is to accept imperfection. Be sure that you strive for things, but be honest that things will get in your way and no matter how you work it…. you will fall short.
There is something about understanding your own choices, though not everyone wants to try to. It means admitting that you are the person in control of the course you are taking in your life. After all is said and done, life’s lessons seem to be the most indelible. Looking back. they have the most meaning and impact our futures. Though it is more popular these days to look for others to blame I think.
I mean all the warnings, all the advice, all those things I have told my kids from my life’s lessons as a parent are things they can decide fit in their lives or not. I could have shamed them into believing them, I could have punished them and made them believe. I could have reasoned with them ( but in those rebellious teen years there wasn’t a lot of reasoning). Still they decided it was valuable to find their way by “being independent” and did things that didn’t always make sense to me. Often it led to those regrettable moments,that they had to end up dealing with personally .
So life’s lessons are the best way to learn, as it seems as though those lessons are the hardest. Mistakes we are making that can break us, can take us to a path we would never have chosen.
As I look back I have to admit that there were plenty of those decisions I made in the past. Knowing that things could be different now doesn’t change it. Knowing I didn’t always take other’s advice had its reward and its regrets.
What I have learned: One of the most important personal life’s lesson: Respect the lesson’s from the past, weigh the advice that others give you. And as I had recently posted … in the end be true to yourself (as I recently posted). Life flows on.
Within You Without You”
We were talking about the space between us all
And the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth, then it’s far too late, when they pass away
We were talking about the love we all could share
When we find it, to try our best to hold it there with our love
With our love, we could save the world, if they only knew
Try to realize it’s all within yourself
No one else can make you change
And to see you’re really only very small
And life flows on within you and without youWe were talking about the love that’s gone so cold
And the people who gain the world and lose their soul
They don’t know, they can’t see, are you one of them?
When you’ve seen beyond yourself then you may find
Peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we’re all one
And life flows on within you and without you
Your life’s priorities. If you had to list them you may find it easy or it may be harder than you expected.
I’m guessing that day-to-day however, you probably don’t allow much time to reference that list. Time starts to consume the day and like most of us, it can divert attention elsewhere. Maybe it’s the work deadline we have to meet, getting the kids to school, housework, watching your favorite TV shows, making dinner, networking on Facebook or walking the dog. Whatever it is there seems to be things that get in the way of the “real” priorities in our lives.
There are things we let become priorities over the fundamental things that should count. Things like money, being noticed in the big world we live in, even our friends and family distract us from the most important things.
We have to remember the joy we get from the grace of God. I am certain that right there someone reading this interprets that as something “religious” and stops reading. I know over my life I have fast-forwarded by the simple messages because I think that someone has an agenda about God. But is it NOT a bible-thumping Jesus message that was going to get lost in all the rules and regulations that we humans wallow in to justify our beliefs.
It isnt that way. It is more of the message and less of the rules.
Everyone I meet is searching for something, although some of them will deny it. Striving for adjusting their priorities in their lives so that they can be better, have a better life, be better parents or be better people. Finding that elusive centerin their lives can be consuming. Money, friends, possessions, power, travel – whatever seems to validate the life we live. We can simply miss the priority. The center.
Many people have found it. They are settled in their lives. I can tell you personally that priorities get away from me. I know that those “other things” in my life have taken over the simple core value of being settled in my life. It should be the priority of Him.
Tracks In The Dust 