Grace | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Grace”

06 Jun 2015

Anticipation

Anticipation. We are all subject to that feeling of anticipation of what comes next in our lives, New family additions, weddings, vacations, promotions at work, a new course in our lives that will change so much of what we already knew.

It can be something special, or something you know is coming and only time will allow it to arrive. I remember in my youth those anxious moments of “going out” with only a night full of adventure ahead. where nothing would seem to get in your way. It would be great to kind of “box that up” and keep it to know that feeling again. I often recollect the phase about how ” youth is wasted on the young”. Not always true, but there were those times when the anticipation was golden.

Still that anxious heart lives in me and I embrace what I can to anticipate things in life even as they are ever-so-simple. It’s not a complicated thing, but it can be elusive when hopelessness and despair are so easily able to make their way into your life.

Even as I fight the fight of my life to beat cancer, I can reach back in my heart and find anticipation in what God will bring me and my family. My children are growing up and experiencing marriage, job promotions, starting new life directions, and getting the dark clouds pushed aware by the reality that they control their own future.

Anticipation of a new day. Anticipation of Eternity. Anticipation is what brings life one of its greatest joys.

I had to include this song. It was on my mind. Carly Simon.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life, The Cancer Letters and tagged Acceptance, anticipation, Cancer, choices, Direction, Faith, Grace, Happiness, life is precious, Love, mental-health, Postive Thinking, Self-Awareness, Who Are You

30 Apr 2015

What is Left Behind

We are all aware of the saying ” you can’t take it with you”. Over a lifetime [short or long as it may be], we can accumulate a lot of possessions. We can collect a lot of things that help to define who we are personally, along with the junk that really is meaningless in the scheme of things.

But these days more than ever, I realize that it’s not about what I own, and certainly what will happen to it when I’m no longer on this earth. It will fall into the path of history, perhaps be landfill, or someone else’s accumulated prize.

Can I worry about the things I have left behind? Perhaps because I don’t want it to burden my loved ones or anyone else. But spending days worrying about it would be worthless worry. So there you have it. Unless you are a hermit, or you purge yourself of everything you own. You’re going to leave things behind for someone else to deal with.

Rather than “things”, I think more about the people that will I will leave behind. They will continue to live their lives to the fullest, God willing. Our kids will continue to grow as adults, to manage through the very same human complications that made up my daily life.. My wife has been my genuine companion and the love of my life for over 35 years, and I have promised to love her always and forever. It is likely that there will come a day that I will not be there for her, yet our lives are from our mutual love and friendship.

Both my wife and I realize we are rich because of the friendships we have in our lives, those we have come to know recently, as well as those we have been fortunate to call friends over the decades, There are so many. And they are there today sending kind words and thoughts, and sharing in prayer.

There is hope for the future. And what left behind is a future of the legacy of the people in your life. It makes life meaningful. It is the paths crossed, the words said, the friendships and relationships that have changed the course of our lives. That is what means the most. The invested time with friends and family will be everyone’s legacy. It will be God’s legacy.

For that I’m grateful and not sad. I am optimistic about the future for me and for everyone else.It is that legacy is what gets all of us through life with meaning, isn’t it? The legacy and the richness of family, friendships and God’s promise of eternity. That will make what ever happens be okay.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, being remembered, Change, choices, Doubt, Faith, Grace, life is precious, Memories, moments, Personal Legacy, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Self-Awareness, Sprituality, Value of Life

27 Mar 2015

If Your Eyes Could Speak What Would They Say?

I think we can all admit honestly that our true self, that self that is what is inside isn’t always what appears outside. We are certainly different in public than we are in private. Some more than others, “what you see is what you get” has degree’s of variations.

We all have degree’s of pain, suffering, sadness, in our lives. Moments ( or days) of uncertainty that can lead us down paths we may never have considered at some other time. That influences who we are, as does those times of happiness and joy, those moments to embrace what we have been given and be thankful, those times when love is so overwhelming in our lives that little else matters. They all make up the complex person our lifetime allows us to be.

The outside self many times seems to be insulated in hiding our emotions. We will mask our thoughts because we are unsure, or lack confidence to be truthful with others about who we are inside. There are times we don’t want to share because that may expose a part of our hearts or minds that would make us vulnerable or allow us to be cast aside or ignored.

In the end you can see it in people’s eyes. I see it when I am out in pubic, when I am at work. There are many people who speak confidently, but in their eyes they seem lost. Unable to determine what is really important in their lives, they are “in the moment” perhaps, but there are things missing. No spiritual center most likely, no introspective self. Maybe they just mask it so well, perhaps from years of practice.

So it can be refreshing sometimes. To meet those genuine people. You can just tell it, and they emit something that tells you that they are more than face-value. You can see it in their eyes. It is within them.

Not big on Beatles covers, but love this rendition by Patti Smith.

“We were talking about the space between us all,” Within You and Without You

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged choices, Emotion, Eyes, Grace, Honesty, inner self, life is precious, Meaning of life, moments, outer self, Reality Check, Self-Awareness, Sprituality, tracks in the dust

26 Feb 2015

Lessons Learned Over Time

There’s this song by The Faces which sings about “I wish I knew what I know now when I was younger”. Now I understand the wisdom of age, but when I was young I was certain I had life figured out. I know now that you can get off course from your younger plans.

Off course: That our ideals are sometimes replaced by practicality, that the dreams are sometimes effected by the reality, that life is full of things to embrace but we often run away from them because of our doubt and uncertainty that they are the right things to be embracing.

So there are lessons learned, and like many of my friends and relatives who are with me on the downhill side of the hill, we have a more complete view of the course we have taken. We can see the victories and the mistakes, the failures and the missed opportunities. But life is still good for many of us. It has its priceless golden moments, it has the love of family and friends.

I have learned many lessons only by my experience. Did someone tell me these things when I was younger? Well yeah, maybe and I just didn’t grasp it. A few of them:

Not going to have a positive life hanging around negative people. One of my sons truly understands this and maybe better than I. It’s kind of obvious, but we often blindly don’t see it. I want to tell my kids over and over, be certain that you are surrounded by people who are positive, who don’t want to shape you like them but let you be who you are. Worth repeating.
If something is broke, fix it… don’t just throw it out. We give up very quickly on some things in life that perhaps we shouldn’t. Like friendships, marriages, diets or breaking bad habits. In today’s disposable society I can understand I guess. Just get a new one. Problem is that it costs something – and not always money- to make that work. We don’t think of that right away.
Time is relative only to you and what you do with it. It is the premise of http://www.tracksinthedust.com. TIme goes fast and dust will shift and your footprints will be gone. But the passage of your time on Earth is what you make of it. Time isn’t really real, it is your part in the spinning world and what you believe will happen after you are gone from it that will make a difference in your life.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, Advice, choices, Decisions, Grace, Happiness, Life, life is precious, Memories, Opinion, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Self-Awareness, Sprituality, Who Are You

28 Jan 2015

Maybe I’m Amazed

Maybe I’m amazed by the way we can make “something” out of “nothing”. And sometimes we like it and sometimes we hate it.

Maybe I’m amazed how there are always two stories to everything, and then there is the real story. Looking through our own eyes, we see them through our own lens and it has so many colors.

Maybe I’m amazed that after 30+ years of marriage I am still wildly in love with the same person. Love is not negotiable, it has ups and downs but it can be always and forever.

Maybe I’m amazed that more people don’t know about how find the beginning of something new, and stay stuck in one direction wondering when things will change.

Maybe I’m amazed that we only have a certain amount of time here on Earth, but we treat it so poorly… letting days go by without appreciating our time and using it to do what God has expected us to do. The rewards are endless.

Maybe I’m amazed that there are so many beautiful, wonderful people in this world, yet so many people are attracted to the negative things around them.

We all have a path. For us so fortunate to be able to make choices, we can. Yes we have the ability to change. We can choose at any moment to make things better.

So with so many in the world that cannot choose, we need to take that power and choose for the better. Help show others the way. Be amazed.