Appreciate Living

Appreciate Living:

On this August 20, 2013, I find myself waking from an interesting series of dreams.  A young man, in my 50’s, I find myself reflecting on the pendulum that is life.  It seems my thoughts are in review mode.  I think, these days, of the “what if’s” that I believe most of us have once we have lived a little while.  What about Jennifer Thomas, the light skinned, long hair, pimple face Caribbean girl I knew in high school.  We tried to develop a relationship but our faiths and naivety got in the way.  She was Jehovah ’s Witness and I was Christian.  I don’t think we cared but the people around us did.  And, before that relationship could sprout there would be friends and family members to spray their brand of weed killer on it.  Why, I don’t know something about “unequally yoked”.  There was my friend Glenn, but can’t remember his last name.  He was short and brown skinned and the most ornery person you never want to meet.  His bold and brash behavior, I suppose, made up for his size.  He was one of the best hand ball players I ever met.  He was my best buddy and we would never part.  I have not seen him since 1978.  I had another best friend, I’ll call him Tommy, that’s not his name but, eh.  Tommy was the guy everyone wanted to be.  He had a full afro and hazel eyes.  He wasn’t a high school mate, just a guy around the way.  All the ladies seem to want to get next to Tommy.  You could see the afro sheen run down his face after a game of hand ball, basketball, stoop ball the list goes on and on.  Tommy was just cool.  He was going to be great.  He was the guy who you never broke from because he could bring it too you!  It was whatever was cool at the time.  I have no idea where Tommy is, have not seen him since busing became the rule in the 70’s. 

There is so much I seem to be able to recall.  Recently, while trekking through YouTube, just checking on some video’s I posted, I saw an old album that I did while trying to be a gospel recording artist.  “Bishop Dingle and the voices of Pentecost”, wow, I didn’t think that a copy of that album existed.  I wrote and sang a bunch of those songs.  It was a time full of fun and joy.  The album made the local circuit and we were played along with the Institutional Radio Choir, Timothy Wright and Carnell Johnson and the Gospel something or others.  It is amazing, what lingers in the recesses of our minds.

I imagine the clicking of keys, as I once did, of a royal typewriter and disclose all of my thoughts and musings on paper; I promise you they are not boring.  I find myself appreciating life more than ever these days.  And, I just want to convey to someone that may be complaining about living that there is certainly an alternative to your reality.

Occasionally the “what if’s” show their head and cause us to wonder where we would be if we had just made other decisions.   What I had different parents?  What if I was not poor? What would it be to be rich or if I’m black to be white?  If I had been adopted, would my life be better?  Some people go as far as to believe that if they were a different gender they might have been happier or a different social class they may have been more philanthropic.  In all of our wondering, I wonder if people really take time to appreciate the road they have traveled.

There was a book by Scott Peck, “The road less traveled”, his melding love, science, and religion into a primer on personal growth built him a successful career lecturing to those who wandering in thought.   I could spend time comparing Robert Frost’s “The road not taken”, poetic look at decisions and how they bring about faded memories and wonder regarding past choices.  These emblements of literature find me lost in their words from time to time, but ever so mindful that life, if properly appreciated, is a blessing.

While I understand that I am in the world, I cannot speak for all in the world.  Today as I speak,  Egyptians across the globe are engaged in civil unrest causing death.  Religious factions in the Middle East in charge of government prepare for holy wars against America and Israel and all such sympathizers.  Christians are being slaughtered as political sheep in conflict that really don’t involve them.  Somewhere children go hungry, live with scurvy and sleep in rat and roach infested hovels, not just overseas but right here in America.  Yes, in our country, there are those that would deny a child healthcare while they are able to see the best doctors, consistently.  Some sport big smiles because they can afford regular visits the dentist, who normally charges ungodly rates just to fill a cavity with deadly mercury.  There are still the homeless and the indigent.  There are the dysfunctional families and the discouraged father out of work.  Many of the educated, their living a reward for their years spent in academia, who look down upon the low wage worker with disdain.  That worker, by the way, may also have been educated but she cannot find work in her field.   Her work day starts with, “Hello, would you like to try today’s happy meal”? 

There is so much about living this life that can be complained about, but why?  I have found that the lemonade, to borrow a phrase, we make out of life’s lemons is far sweeter.  Sure there are struggles in life but most of the time they come from striving and not being content.  Take a moment to enjoy the moment.  Have you ever looked at autumn leaves from a position of rest.  Instead of raking a pile on a windy autumn day, watch them dance in the wind.  See them swirly like a ballerina on a whirring jewelry box.  Take a grand view of an oak as the leaves turn their color or a pecan tree as it throws its fruit to a ready ground.  Can you hear the gradual tapping of the nuts?  Can you see the squirrels happily collecting their bounty?  Look how God provides food and entertainment for those willing to stop and appreciate the wonder that is life. Living is all around us, waiting to be experienced.

Try heading to the beach or a brook that sounds as if it’s babbling.  It doesn’t cost much to be hypnotized by the washing of waves on the shore or to listen to the chorus of birds flying in migration.  Life is full of cycles that when missed happily return almost 365 days at a time.  And, as long as we stop to appreciate the things that are not in our control, such as, nature, art in the making, children at play and the rhythm of things that seem inanimate, we will find that there is much more to this thing we call living than meets the eye.

I am a man of faith.  I believe in Christ’s return for the believer and I believe in the ultimate justice against the wicked.  I also believe that there will come a time that suffering will cease and poverty will be no more.  I believe that those of us of diverse spiritual persuasions will know the one true God.  I believe that God has many that are not of this fold.  I believe that His objective in this world is not punishment but restoration.  I believe that all those who simply look for a vengeful God, coming to inflict harm and pain, don’t really know God.  I appreciate the relationship I have with family and with my deity.  I have a peace that passes my ability to understand.  My steps have not always been clear but they were known and not by me, but by him who knew me before I was formed in my mother’s womb.

 

If you are reading this writing and if you can hear my voice, there is hope if you are struggling.  And, I believe that hope is in Christ.  I also believe that you, if you really look, can see and appreciate that you have had the opportunity to live.  You can change your reality by simply changing how you see life.  If life is a bore and a drudge, nothing you see will lift you or provide you with pleasure.  If you see life as potential, then you will seek the things that lift you and give you peace.  If you must strive, press to be happy.  Press to have joy and to experience all that is around you.  Take pleasure in the things that cost a little time or nothing but your attention.  They are the things that God has given, free of charge, for our pleasure.  Learn to appreciate the small things.  Be still and listen to the rhythms of nature around you.  Appreciate the diversity in people and their complexities.  If you allow yourself to be free in traveling that road call life, it really won’t matter which fork you take, as long as you take it with the confidence that your life has meaning and you allow the God of the universe to lead you to purpose. 

There is an assurance in God’s provision when you see how nature is provided for.  If you have breath, you can have peace, love, Joy and all the fruit that the Spirit provides.  Do you remember the problems you had one, five, 15, 10 or even 20 years ago?  Chances are you can’t remember all that happened and I’m sure you have no desire too.  Time winds up the history of our live ever so consistently.  Whatever has been weaved, depending on the knots you have made, may eventually come loose.  Buildings and bridges crumble without maintenance, grass withers and flowers fade with seasons.  Even our lives will come to an abrupt halt, often without warning.  Don’t spend precious time worrying and fretting about what is not or lamenting about what was lost, rather appreciate Who you are, Where you are and When you are.  From this mindset you may come to appreciate life and living. 

 

Thanks a bunch for listening.