Love | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Love”

17 Jul 2012

What Do You Do With It?

There is something about being told by a doctor how you might leave this Earth that is kind of creepy. I mean we are all going to go someday. Like my previous post “time waits for no one”, it moves on and there is no way to halt it or turn it around. There is not a way to stop the end. People search for the fountain of youth, do as many things possible in some cases to make themselves look young. They take miracle drugs and infomercial remedies that are supposed to make the look and feel younger. But in the end we are all headed for the mortal end.

No matter what the future looks like , there are many times we don’t see it coming. I had a niece who was a wonderful girl with a hopeful future who wanted to see what life would bring, but in the process she took too many chances with her life and lost it at an age before she experienced her 24th year. In other cases we may be able to wait for age to catch up and maybe somewhere along the way we physically wear out, or a disease or other plights gets the better of us. When cancer is a reality, there are so many other realities you may not be thikning about- like that inevitable sudden step off the curb, or the last adventure to take-on the mountain or obstacle worth tackling that brings the end.

So I am really sure that it will end for all of us. I think you probably believe that too. What we do with the time we have here on Earth is the way to put value on our life while we have it. God tells us that we are going to have a place here in the world, and after we leave it. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

But some how, for some of us, we find our ways to cycle through the hours, days and weeks and wonder how they often get past us with little difference. We get frustrated because we havent felt we have been significant, we aren’t very sure if we have made the time between those major events in our lives worth it when they are just “living”. But we can make it worth it every day, by being there for the people around us, living with the spirit of goodness and all its attributes always.

So we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that life goes on forever here on Earth. That our tracks in the dust will last forever here. We have to wake up each day and cherish it for what it is and what we can make of it. Enjoy the simple pleasures, celebrate the victories however small or large they are. Be thankful for the people around you and the people you have known over your lifetime. When the time is over, be confident that because you believe, you will have another place to be for eternity.

02 Jul 2012

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Our Emotional Life

Emotion is such a human thing, isn’t it? We thrive on it and need it to be able to exist. The emotional range of life provides us the very highest of happiness to the depths of sadness, from grief to elation, from the top of achievement and all that goes with it, to the bottom of disappointment in failure.

All of these are part of being human, of living our lives however long they may be. But for some of us we try so hard to put emotions away – bury them so that they cannot get out where others may see them. Yet for others, these emotions trap us in a place where then we can often get caught. It is then we get stuck for what seems endless days, weeks perhaps even years where no escape appears. Perhaps we cannot see the escape, or maybe we just aren’t looking for it. Sure, and there are those who are forever on that “high” as well, blindly flying along with the need to drive to the pinnacle every day. Taking in everything and everyone around them like a vacuum, and not stopping to see what falls along the wayside as the go.

Emotion is human, and it has a lot to do with our progress in life. It drives the very reasons that we persevere, it kindles the very fires that keep us burning for more. It is the center of love, it is the root of hate. It fuels happiness and fear. We fight it, we resist its change, and yet we cherish it and love its diversity. We let it control us and we sometimes let it make us do things we know in our heart are not right, but also let us guide us toward the power of the Spirit by loving everything and everyone around us.

How do you handle it? Are you on the rollercoaster and it goes up and down, or the carousel that goes endlessly around? When you sense it is changing, do you find yourself fighting it? How do you understand when it has clouded your heart? Do you smother your emotions or let them breathe? I guess the first thing to do seems to be to recognise they are there for us because we need them. It may be good to be passionately involved with your emotions. Don’t be angry that they exist, but be sure you have the opportunity to experience them without forever trapping your at the extremes. How would you recognise the difference otherwise.

“To ignore, repress, or dismiss our feelings is to fail to listen to the stirrings of the Spirit within our emotional life.” Brennan Manning

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, Doubt, Emotion, Happiness, Joy, Love, moments, Philosophy, Self-Awareness, Sprituality, Thought

18 Jun 2012

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The Mosaic of Life

Some days can seem to drone on for a long time. As the summer days in Texas grow longer and the heat lingers on, it gives me pause to stop and thank God for all the people he has put in my life. They have all created a mosaic of memories and experiences that allow me to get to this point and see what I see. It amazes me. Even on those bland and simple days , where nothing eventful of note has left its mark, there is always the reflection of the events and people that have been before this moment.

I miss many of them, but they had their own roads to take and lives to travel. I am better for having them in my life’s paths, and hopefully I helped be a piece of who they are too… Not all of them were the greatest of friends, in fact some were foes. But they all made a difference.

I am also thankful that I have my family. Through the laughter, the tears, the frustrations and triumphs we work through them together as best we know how, with God’s countenance and grace to watch over us. I haven’t seen one of my sons in nearly nine years, and I pray that he is learning this to be true. But I love him still. I am fortunate for my three other children and my wonderful wife that have been in my life these many years.

As the US recognized Fathers Day this past weekend, I want to hope that I have reflected some of the greatness of my father on my children. I think I have. I am fortunate to be able to say that, (when so many don’t wish or want it so)…my children never really got to know my father before he died- but I see him in them. Such precious little time with their other grandfather was hopefully enough to see the man he was and what pieces of him exist in them as well.

So I continue to be amazed. And I hope you can reflect on the mosaic of your life that has brought you to each day, and be amazed along with me in the light it produces. Be good with what makes you who you are today, share it with your family and friends, and be joyful for what adventures lie ahead in the time here on Earth.

“Family” by Joe Walsh

I’ve been alone most of my life
I’ve never known what it was like
To end up somewhere and not have to pack
To be among friends I know have my back

But now I’m here where I belong
I’ve finally found a wife and a home
And a family that matters, means more to me
Than anything I have ever believed

And when we are gathered together
Tell me how blessed can somebody be

Give thanks, break bread, say grace, bow heads
For all of this love that surrounds me
We laugh, we cry, stand together that’s why
It’s all being part of a family

Tried it before, never felt right
I never dreamed that someday I might
Be part of something bigger than me
It makes me feel humble, finally I see

All that we have is each other
And that’s all that I’ll ever need

Give thanks, take time to say that I’m
So grateful for all that surrounds me
We laugh, we cry, stand together that’s why
It’s all being part of a family

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life, Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Acceptance, Family, Grace, Life, Love, spirituality

28 May 2012

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The Secret of Life

i have told my children, I have told my friends. There is nothing difficult about the secret of life. It is simply enjoying the passage of time. It isn’t difficult. Don’t spend so many hours,days, weeks, months or years searching for it. It may pass you by. You may miss it, you may spend your entire life looking for it. But you only have so much time, and it is time that is what you should cherish. You are able to make it work if you try. It isn’t even hard, although we may always be working so hard to look for it.

It can consume you, as you search. It can mean that you can toss away a day so easily and wonder where it went. It can mean that you have nothing to show for it as you search, and then if you ever do find it – you will ask “what took you so long?” So sit back and look at what has made your life be what it is today, and you may realise that you have it right in front of you. You make it what it is every single day. Thank God for it and enjoy it because the secret of life is simply enjoying the passage of time.

The Secret of Life by James Taylor

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time
Any fool can do it
There ain’t nothing to it
Nobody knows how we got to
The top of the hill
But since we’re on our way down
We might as well enjoy the ride

The secret of love is in opening up your heart
It’s okay to feel afraid
But don’t let that stand in your way
’cause anyone knows that love is the only road
And since we’re only here for a while
Might as well show some style
Give us a smile

Isn’t it a lovely ride
Sliding down
Gliding down
Try not to try too hard
It’s just a lovely ride

Now the thing about time is that time
Isn’t really real
It’s just your point of view
How does it feel for you
Einstein said he could never understand it all
Planets spinning through space
The smile upon your face
Welcome to the human race

Some kind of lovely ride
I’ll be sliding down
I’ll be gliding down
Try not to try too hard
It’s just a lovely ride

Isn’t it a lovely ride
Sliding down
Gliding down
Try not to try too hard
It’s just a lovely ride

Now the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged cherish, Definitions, James Taylor, Joy, life is precious, Love, passage of time, Philosophy, Secret of Life, Self-Awareness, spirituality, Sprituality, tracks in the dust, welcome to the human race

27 May 2012

De-coding Happiness

It is amazing that being happy seems so hard. It means so much to so many people who are seeking it daily, perhaps even hourly. They are looking all over for it. At work, at home, at play. No matter where they look they are always trying to get more. Sometimes when they are happy they don’t even recognise it – too busy thinking about the next thing to do on the course to happiness.

Contentment perhaps, is more like it often times. It doesn’t feel bad, it is somewhere on the same side of happy. Just that feeling that you are in the right place at the right time. That things have lined up well in your life and you are “good” with the place you are in.

So it seems like there is a need to de-code what happiness looks like. I have casual friends who have jobs that allow them to have virtually all the possessions they want. They have collected them to surround themselves with potential happiness genrators that will perhaps make each day a better day. But surrounded by all of those possessions and property, they seem even less happy than someone with a tenth as much. So okay, “money can’t buy you happiness”. Got it. But then why keep trying? Because it makes them happy to try I think.

So sadly happiness is a state of mind, driven through the spirtuality of recognizing that there are more important things that the earthly posessions. The energy spent collecting up happiness could be so much better used. As humankind it seems like we have so much more potential, more to seek JOY. Now there’s a word. Almost always coming from an interaction with a living thing. A child or a parent, a family pet or something from nature, something of beauty. Joy is from God.

Joy has a component of happiness; in itself the most precious of contentment. Thank you for those times in happiness. Enjoying the mission of life; taking on the idea that we all have a purpose for being here while we are alive. To bring more to the light and peace that is true happiness. Are you there with me?