Tracks In The Dust

A Father's Advice About Learning the Mission of Life

Archive for the tag “moments”

21 Jun 2013

Searching for An Answer

Keep searching.

It seems like everyone gives up or says “I am done” at some point in their life… but it is important that you take that in stride. The old song that goes: “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again” doesn’t always feel like a welcome one.

But whether it is a search for a mate, a new job, a solution to a problem or profoundly the meaning of life, there has to be a point to it. Never giving up is so cliché. Still I think that is the basis of being human, having hope – even if despair is all around you.

But you have to look for it. I have posted before about people in my life that I have noticed who will wait for things to come to them. Sure it happens (some call it luck- others call it fate). God is good and He will provide, but you have to be looking for it. You cannot expect the things you need to search for to land in-front of you.

Ironically those few times that they do, if you weren’t looking they may just pass you by. You may not even recognize the opportunity (like my mom used to say) “even if it bit you in the nose.” Maybe that is because you weren’t looking, which gets right back to searching doesn’t it?

So I keep faith in the hope that the things we are willing to search for will come to us if we are open and receptive to them. (Like most everyone else, I have been at the dark-end of things in my life). If we understand that in order to search for those things, we have to remove the excuses and reasons not to. We have to get out of the cycle of denial or despair (or whatever you want to call it), and make something of the life we have.

‘Cuz life is short, and you may know that adage: The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time. That is, not a philosophy to support the idea to party till you drop, but to recognize what you need to do in life; make the best of it- understand that eternity can be had in the next life- and go searching. Don’t stop. Open your eyes…

A great song by a band I have enjoyed for decades.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Advice, Faith, Hope, Inspirational, Meaning of life, moments, Procrastination, Reality Check, Searching for meaning, Secret of Life, Self-Awareness, spirituality, Sprituality

20 Jun 2013

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Summer Solstice

It’s that time of year where summer is “official” on the calendar.

Here in the US it is that time again to think seriously about summer. For many of us that happened back at the end of May when America celebrates Memorial Day. But for the science of it all, summer begins now.

It sill churns up all the great memories of what summer meant when I was a kid: hot summer days at the beach, baseball season starts to really take shape, get ready for Independence Day celebrations and barb-e-ques ahead, hop on the bike and ride to places to enjoy the out-of-doors (does anyone really call it that anymore?). There was kind of a feeling of anticipation of what the adventure of summer would bring.

Anticipation for the “lazy days“: Like my mom and dad planning a family vacation. Even the summer songs on the radio would be upbeat, softball leagues would be gathering at the neighborhood park, the dog-days of August were lurking in the post July heat ahead-. The world seemed brighter– may be because the days were longer and the nights seemed more available to extend the day’s activities.

As I have gotten older, some of that still remains. I think I worked hard to make sure my kids could feel those same remembrances, but now they are older now and creating their own. I asked my teenage daughter (who is days away from NOT being called a “teenager”) – where would you like to live as you continue your journey into adulthood? Her answer: “somewhere where there are seasons”. Her younger years were in the mid-west US, but these past many years we have lived in Texas where those season changes are so much harder to recognize.

Summer solstice is here. To everything there is a season. Time to capture this one and enjoy it.

Photo credit: artsboston.org

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Change, choices, great memories, Independence Day, life is precious, moments, neighborhood park, Remembering Summer, Seasons, Sostice, Summer, Summer solstice, Summertime

09 Jun 2013

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The Meaning of Love

Before I was in love with my wife, I had an idea of what love was. A deep feeling of passion and remembrance. A way to feel that was part of songs and poetry.

Time had captured a high-school romantic way to know about desperate love and the pain when it was over. Everyone has a different definition, but the verb “to love” I have learned has a meaning depending on where you started and how you got there.

After I fell in love with my wife, I realized how easy it was to be fooled into believing you were “in love.” It is so much more once you know that love means more. It’s really unfair, because until you know that kind of love- you can’t understand it.

And once you do know that love, you cannot explain it to anyone quite exactly the way it is. But people will tell you they know, that they are aware of it. Perhaps they do- but only you and her will know for sure.

And then they we to capture it by making a “day” out of it. On this day my wife and I celebrate an “anniversary”- another milestone in which to track the movement of life. It has been decades of love with my wife. We have experienced pain, elation of children in our lives, the passing of parents and the loss of one of our children to something we could not for-see. We have moved to many cities, experienced many lessons over time. We are here to tell each other it will all be fine– we are together in God’s love. We understand much about love. Not everything mind you, but much of love and the life we have led together.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged cherish, choices, God's love, life is precious, Love, Marriage, moments, Online Writing, relationships, Romance

09 Apr 2013

The Pending Storms of Spring

You know that feeling you get when you hear about pending storms. Watchful on the horizon. Brewing for a change. Some see it as a fearful thing (rightfully so) and yet perhaps more.

The summer storms often bring colder fronts and fresh air. They bring that smell of green things growing. Before it arrives you can taste it in the air. The bugs sing a song in the trees. There is a sense of it in the pressure of the atmosphere.

But the spring storms however seem to queue up to help clean away the winter. Take away the dust and dreariness that can encapsulate the winter months. They come as the light of the day starts to expand and the plants and trees around are working on a new set of leaves and seeds. The birds arrive back ( maybe they weren’t gone, but the seem so much more vocal). The storms come in on windy days that seem to be designed to blow the seeds along for a summer plan.

Here in Texas the spring storms have begun, they often come with predictions of hail, and sometimes the size of quarters or golf balls. Most storms whisk by with strong winds that line up and rearrange things… fences, lawn furniture, trees and roofing land in the most unexpected places. But still the storms come. They will always come.

When they do you have a chance to see them as renewal of the new pending season. You can work toward acceptance in the anticipation. Perhaps see it as a way to change and change with it.

Posted in Before and After Things Change and tagged Acceptance, Change, choices, Emotion, moments, Postive Thinking, Storm, Texas, Weather

25 Mar 2013

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The Dark Side of the Moon: 40 Years Later

40 years ago I spent my $8.99 and purchased an LP record called “Dark Side of the Moon“. It was by Pink Floyd. I was an owner of Pink Floyd albums prior to that, but nothing had prepared me for this.

This was before CD”s, but the deep rich sound of the LP was beyond just about anything I had heard until then. It was like the day I had bought Sgt. Peppers by the Beatles; there was anticipation for every sound and every song. There was so much in the tapestry of the music that it deserved many listening’s just to be sure there wasn’t any thing I was missing in the multi-layers of music and sound.

In those days even holding the “album” was an experience. And the cover was a unique, the words were there to consume and examine. There was the experience of putting the needle down on the platter, knowing that there was a 2nd side. Scanning through things was next to impossible…so you listened. But this album was too short. The entire album is under 43 minutes long. Once you heard it you wanted to find your headphones and listen again.

It’s one of the best-selling albums of all times. It is complete. At that time an albums-worth of music was appreciated for the span of the music provided. Today’s idea of downloading a single song when you like was very far down the road. Even the singles of the time (45 rpm discs with 2 songs) were delegated to sugary pop songs at that time. This is something to appreciate. If you own it, go ahead and put it on and listen for 43 minutes – maybe even with headphones. Just get into it like it was a work of art. It is.

Perhaps others feel that way about their album experiences (not the song-but the album itself). You tell me. What was the album that changed your idea of music as you knew it?