life is precious | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “life is precious”

10 May 2012

Compassion

I have always believed that one of the most valuable things you can posess in life is compassion. What comes of that is the heart of the Spirit that is “love,joy, peace,forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control.”

Here is one of my life’s songs. Compassion (Todd Rundgren)

You want more, and still more,
Until you get more than you ever bargained for.
Now its plain, clear as rain,
I’ve seen your symptoms many times before.

Lying on your bed of pain
What will you have now?

What are riches untold in a life without compassion?
For there’s no winter as cold
as a life without compassion.
There’s no prescription that’s sold
that can heal you like compassion.

Well you tried and you cried,
And let your disappointment make you hard inside.
You have doubt, you reach out,
Still you’re the only one you care about.

Hiding in your sack of woe
What do you need now?

For there is nothing so sad
as a life without compassion.
And even love has turned bad,
it was love without compassion.
And you don’t need what you had
‘Cause you did not have compassion.

Dying on your bed of pain
What will you have now?

You’ll get no judgment from me,
I can only feel compassion.
And if that’s what you need,
I will give you my compassion.
Just don’t forget about me
‘Cause we all need some compassion.

Open up your heart
so you can start to feel compassion.
Get down on your knees,
pray to heaven for compassion.
Everybody needs compassion.
If you want to be healed
then you know you got to feel compasion

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Acceptance, Compassion, Galatians 5, God, Grace, Health, Joy, life is precious, Sprituality, Todd Rundgren

04 May 2012

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Time Travels Forward, Are You?

Choose: Forward, Backward, Standing Still.

That is what one of my bosses years ago used to say. Either you are making forward progress, looking backward, or you are standing still (side to side is still standing still).

Forward motion is desirable it so it would seem, most the time. The movement is your life’s path, the path that will end when we meet that fateful day somewhere in the unpredictable future. Some days however it is an inch by inch progression forward, other days it can move miles ahead. And then there are those days that seem like things are standing still – even that can be welcomed. No change, no bad news, no good things either- but that could be just what is needed. But generally forward progress keeps pushing you on…

Looking backwards on life’s path is educational, there may be times and places that you want to return to in your life, but time only moves forward (unless you are in one of those wild time travel movies). You have to learn from your past, but you cannot return to it even if you try, it will always be different from it was as time has made it so.

You may be like some of my younger friends who are in a hurry to move things along. For them it is almost urgent that things change at the fastest pace possible. Running toward the future can be healthy, but it can mean you have the chance to miss some genuinely great experiences along the way, or run into things that can stop you cold. Other times it can feel like you could be running to the end to the end of the path (end of life) much too quickly. I have had close friends that were like that… like almost in a self-destructive way they would do whatever it would take to rush the day along by drinking it way, or smoking it away, even sleeping it away. ( play “Working for the Weekend” song here for the soundtrack)

There are people I know that really want to make things stand still in their lives. No changes. Like being in a comfort-zone, enveloped in a place the is safe. While moving forward for others is urgent, these people are some that are urgently hoping for things to not change…like they are dependant on it. Co-dependant with the lack of change, years later frustrated , they ask themselves “what happened”? Since time and progress was moving all around them. They can’t get that time back, others in forward motion have passed them by, and they start looking backward. Which is never going to be the same as it was. Of course the best choice is forward, but after so long it is hard.

I can tell you as I grow older there is comfort in having those slow, unchangeable days where progress forward is almost a stand-still. But progress forward is good… spiritually, mentally, physically, intellectually. There is always time to grow.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Change, choices, comfort zone, experiences along the way, Forward Progress, life is precious, Reality Check, self, Time, tracks in the dust

02 May 2012

Just Because You Should, Doesn’t Mean You Will

Just because you should, doesn’t mean you will.

Okay so this is the follow up to my previous post Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should.

I find myself in this situation very often. There is a list of things I should do. Many of them are things that would make me a better person, others are just things that I know would be nice to accomplish for what my dad used to say “the good of the order.” There are plenty of excuses as to reasons why I can’t (see my post The Scale of Accountability). There are many reasons that I just put things off. When I was young my dad also used to say that I was definitely a “pro-crastinator” on some things– as opposed to an amateur one I guess.

But besides putting things off or just finding excuses, I find that when I reflect on everything I have done at the end of each day, there are several things that got in the way. I let them I suppose, or I prioritized them way down the list when I shouldn’t. They get relegated to “tomorrow” stuff… or put on the weekend list. That’s just going to happen because there are only so many hours in the day left over after work and sleep and eating.

Something’s may just be simple things to do, but when piled up together they are like a bunch of pieces of a puzzle that look difficult to assemble. Some of those things need more time- more quality time, or more concentration than my brain-cells have to offer. Yet others may be things that are not that desirable to have to do in the first place, and then that too weighs on the decision to do them.

Sure there are chores, house repairs, detailed cleaning, running the errands of the day, paying bills, corresponding with emails and messages from friends and family, and so many other things that seem to “task” the lists. What easily gets pushed farther aside is the focus that I need to keep grounded in what is truly important… and that alone seems to get pushed around on the “to do” list.

At the end of it all- doing what is important to feed yourself spiritually should be at the top of the list. For me that would be spending time in the Word. It may be just meditating on the positive things that I should be sharing with the people around me. It may just be sitting down with my family and enjoying each other’s company, or with my wife and longtime partner in this journey…taking time to really know how her day went or what she is feeling today.

There I go then… things I should do… but don’t get to. Even examining the things that get in the way is an entry on my “to do” list. If you use Excel spreadsheets- I envision it to the error message for a “circular reference” – put on the to-do list to clear the to-do list.

I will get to it soon!

Nope. Maybe right now… how about you?

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Change, choices, Doubt, Family, Home, life is precious, Procrastination, Reality Check, Sprituality, Time management

26 Apr 2012

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Relief and Recovery: Faith in Something Bigger

Just the other day someone asked me what I felt was my greatest accomplishment in life. I can tell you that I paused for a while and told them “it depends”. But in reality after some contemplation I believe the greatest accomplishment is that I have lived every day with something to live for. It takes little inspection to see so much pain and heartache around me. Of course there are always ways to make things better in our lives, and a lot of my past posts here were about ways i might be able to work on that, but there are too many ways that in the end it doesn’t happen.

It made me think of how things are all over the world, in places that most people in the USA wouldn’t be able to point to on a map- where there are people who struggle to survive to get clean drinking water or food that would just help them to get through another day. It is easy to see pictures or hear stories and feel inspired to make donations to help with relief. It makes us feel better about who we are, and being more fortunate we can help support others less fortunate. And they need it so badly there is never unwelcomed help.

But it seems that in fact most needs likely go beyond relief, it is about recovery that can build on that relief to help people recover physically and then even more important: spiritually. People may not realize the potential of lifelong spiritually if they are not able to fulfill their simple physical needs. But at that point we all need to have the sensibility to invest the time, to clear the way for others to make that to happen.

So not only for those in distant parts of the world, but for people who are around the corner or down the street from our homes. It is for many of us more fortunate souls that are able to accomplish the simplest things in life with confidence… we need to share it, to be partisans of faith and hope. Share the richness from the fundamental things we enjoy that need to be appreciated and shared. We need to be thankful and generous in sharing our relief and go on by providing recovery by being the messengers of the good news. It requires very little effort …just faith.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Faith, Grace, life is precious, Relief, Self-Awareness, Sprituality

19 Apr 2012

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The Value of Sharing

I have noticed lately that the value of the things in life seems to change as you get older. I remember as a much younger guy putting so much value on certain possessions in my life. Some of them I collected them up like a hoarder, thinking that if I had the biggest number or the most unique I was going to be more fortunate or recognized for it. Others sat in a drawer or a closet as treasures that would remind me of the past, or as something that signified a special moment in time that was only captured in the self-designated souvenir.

No doubt if others examined these things, most of the items would seem to have no significance to them at all. Many friends and family my age have shared the same experience; over time so ironically many of the things they have collected have become less significant. Memories fade, priorities change, the reason for having them becomes obsolete. Those collections of jewelry, record albums, magazines, books, clothing and the like… just don’t seem to be as important as they once were.

As I got older I began to understand that many of the major purchases I had accumulated over the years didn’t seem to be as valuable either. In some cases now, it has become more about function over the form of it. After all they say “you can’t take it with you”. I have begun to cherish the value of “time”, of nurturing relationships, sharing the virtues of living with those I love most- my wife, family and friends.

Sharing the good news of eternity while carrying out the mission we all have while we are here on Earth. That has more significance than the collection of possessions or souvenirs I could collect. Memories and experiences I was trying to capture in keepsakes aren’t as important as finding ways to share them with family & friends and those who may just want to know.

Perhaps that is why blogging and social networks are so popular these days. Like “posting” something to share can be so digitally permanent it can mean something more, in comparison to those collections of possessions that often only get dusty or spent with age.

Like tracks in the dust, over time our footprints will fade away- but the souls of the people we interact with in a positive way will help to carry-on long after we are gone. Corny yes- but..“The love you take is equal to the love you make”