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.
Does it all come down to that? Sometimes it feels like it. Asking the question what kind of grocery bags you want at the store.Here in the US some stores give you the option. And you have to “call it”. Paper or Plastic.
Do you weigh out the environment and be a responsible consumer? Maybe where you live you aren’t even given the choice ( thanks Austin, Texas and other points west). Some communities have already outlawed plastic, others expect you to bring your own bags with you. ( and I have noticed a lot of them are just a different version of plastic).
But that’s not my point I guess. Paper or plastic kind of reflects on other things. Maybe how you see yourself? How you fit in the solution.
I mean those plastic bags only hold so much, a few things and on to the next bag. They are fast to peel off the stack of hundreds and are neatly stacked to be opened as you pull them off. Mass produced. Opaque and crunchy. They often find themselves lining the next small wastepaper basket,or carrying some gross thing from your favorite pet in its afterlife. Are you a plastic? or maybe you are a paper?
Paper bags. Bags like these have been around for decades to “sack-groceries.” Those brown containers with little chips of pulp. Many have handles to help better grasp them for even more utility. Square with room for plenty, but be careful of the weight. Of course rather than another bag you can always double bag. And they are bio-degrade-able (which sounds so environmentally conscious). If they get wet they can tear, if they survive they can be used for wrapping books or drawing on, making a kite or… just going in the trash or recycle bin to have another shot at life.
SO, are you a “paper” or “plastic” person when given the choice?
Wonder what the choice says about you? Or then maybe you bring your own bag… and that’s another kind of you all together?
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.
I have often heard the term “it goes without saying”. Unfortunately it seems these days not all people take that advice.
There are times when it is good to be silent. It is good to be quiet. What would be said would be of no use, other than to effect someone in a negative way for no gain (other than spite I guess). Speaking just to be heard. To me it seems like that happens a lot these days. On the news, the Internet, even in social conversations. If it can be said- someone more often than not finds a way to always say it.
Shock value? A reason to feel superior, or make a point to get ahead personally? Not sure. I have posted before, the world is full of noise. And with all that noise comes the desire to be heard. \
Even if what is being said is nothing at all. Often we want to hear what famous people are saying, or politicians because we want to know that they are saying something we would say… but then they spout off nonsense (often, not always) and we go ahead and repeat it.
Really- “it goes without saying”! But we say it any way. The very old adage that “Silence is Golden” is wasted in the millennial soup that comes from hundreds of channels on TV, thousands of URL’s on the Internet, millions of social net-worker’s who want nothing more than to share their words. Opinions presented as facts, facts distorted as truths, truths masked by agendas, agendas built around being heard as often as one can.
Okay – so maybe what I am saying- goes without saying. Maybe I shouldn’t be spouting off about how people say things just to be heard, after all I am on this blog right now – doing the same.
Here I am, saying people may want to consider silence, be “quiet” instead of always saying things. NOT saying things can be just as effective, and sometimes even more so than rattling on.
So I am done. I have nothing more to say on this matter.
Tracks In The Dust 