This morning I saw a rabbit in my yard, a fairly frequent occasion, yet my relationship with the experience was exquisitely different than most. I watched it nestled in the grass amongst the shining dew drops, contentedly munching on a rogue dandelion, completely at ease with its surroundings. A red robin hopped through the wet grass, head titling this way and then that as he hunted for food. The scene was one of tranquility and peacefulness, and I began to think about how often we let life slip through our fingers.
There are so many moments throughout our day where we have the opportunity to immerse ourselves completely into the ongoing life cycle around us. I notice this more and more as I learn to let go of everything I’ve held onto over the course of my life as I attempt to embrace the present moment.
When I go to the store, I notice the ravens scuttling about the parking lot, searching for scraps of food, always on the hunt.
I notice it during walks through the neighborhood as dogs cry out a friendly, “Hello” or “I want to eat you” as I pass by.
It’s there during bike rides with my kids as we whiz along the streets and sidewalks, wind blowing in our hair as we laugh and talk about what we see and hear.
All These Things Are A Reminder That Life Is Abundant.
Life is full.
Life is beautiful.
And yet, most of the time, we are so caught up in our little stories, our mind games, our fantasies, that we become blind to what life is really about.
We become calloused to the beauty, peace, and joy surrounding us as a result of allowing ourselves to get caught up in the stories about how this person did something or said something that we don’t like. As a result, we begin to fixate on that and allow it to ruin our day, week, or month, and in some cases, our lives.
How many people walk around with unresolved bitterness, resentment, anger, and frustration because of what someone else did or said?
Year after year, in some cases, they slowly waste away because of words.
Words do have the power to transform, whether for good or bad, as declared by the scriptures:
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
– Proverbs 18:21
Yet we don’t have to let words have power over us. We don’t have to let someone’s actions have power over us.
Our minds are the battleground for how we experience life. We can either give in to the thoughts and feelings that cause us to feel miserable, or we can push back and make a conscious decision to move on, to let go, to forgive, to live life in peace and joy.
In the End, What Does it Really Matter?
We’re all mortal.
Eventually, we die.
Our bodies decay and are eaten by worms and bacteria. Over time, our bones are ground to dust and we return to the earth from whence we came.
So, why fret over all the silly things that don’t go our way? In a few short years, you will be gone.
A few short years after that; and your name may not even be remembered. It may adorn a tombstone somewhere, but all that will remain is your name and the date of your birth and death. The people walking through the graveyard will have no memory of you or the life you lived.
Some small few may be remembered for a few centuries. Some a few millennia. But eventually, all names and deeds will be lost to time.
If this is the case, why not live like the rabbit, peaceful and content? Why not live like the robin, hopping around in search for food, or twigs and grass to build a nest, untethered to the thoughts of how difficult his life may be?
Why Get Worked Up Over Things That Have No Real Meaning?
None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, so why not live instead? You may read this and have a heart attack or a stroke. You may walk out your door as usual and get in a car accident on the way to work, or school, or to the grocery store while shopping for your family.
Life waits for no man. Life doesn’t pick between one or the other and say, “Ah, I’m going to bless this one today and curse the other.”
“For He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends His rain on the just and unjust.”
– Matthew 5:45
Emperors have come and gone, and most of their names are not remembered. Even the ones that are remembered are usually only remembered by those few with piqued interest in history and how we’ve come to our current state of affairs within our human experience.
Yet we strive and struggle through life to be seen, to be known, to feel like we’re a part of something. What is that something, and do you even know who you are? Who are you really other than a bag of blood and bones, of visceral tissues that will become corrupt and rot mere moments after your death?
Who Are You?
You are a body. You are a soul. You are ephemeral.
You are an emanation of light, a set of chemicals, mere molecules and atoms.
And when you are gone, where do you go? Do you dissolve into nothingness as the atheist believes, or do you transcend to heaven as the religious believe? And what is nothingness? What is heaven?
The only way to know for sure is to die, but by that time, the struggles and striving you’ve done throughout this life cease to exist, at which point you might wonder, why did I struggle? Why did I strive so hard and long rather than learn how to truly live?
Death awaits all, with maw gaping wide as we inch closer and closer until we eventually cross the threshold.
Still, what does it matter? Once you embark on that next phase of life, that journey we call death, your perceived hurts, anger, pain, suffering, love, joy, warm hugs, and passionate kisses all fade away.
Eventually, they are forgotten, as you too will be forgotten.
Your friends and family may mourn your passing until it is their turn to find passage themselves. Then their loved ones will mourn them until they too are gone. On and on the cycle goes.
Many Think They Are Living When They Are Not.
The harsh truth is most people live in a semblance of hell as glimmers of heaven pass through the bars of their cell windows.
At what point do we say, “Enough is enough” and make a declaration that we no longer concede to the dilapidated thinking of our own minds?
When do we decide that now is the time to truly live?
This doesn’t mean becoming the next Emperor or Billionaire, or whatever fancy you envision for your life. It means finding the appreciation of life in the small things. Noticing them for what they are.
Admiring the beauty found in the flight of a bird, or the coloring in a rock.
Allowing ourselves to be present with the constant flow and energy of life surrounding us at every moment.
Even now, sequestered away in this room where I write these words, without seeing the sun, I can sense the clouds passing before its face as slight shadows dance and play, growing brighter or darker as the light filters through my window.
A bird chirping. My dog moving about to change where he sleeps.
All these little nuances are life. It’s the fullness of life. Yet how often are you aware of it? What stories are you tied up in that pull your attention away from the glory that shines all around you?
What manufactured grievances are you holding onto that pull you down into the muck and mire of your own perpetuated suffering?
It’s been said that life is full of pain, but you don’t have to suffer.
Suffering Is A Choice.
In our current society, most of us are suffering from the rumination of the mind as opposed to some catastrophic event.
Begin to ask yourself then, “What stories am I telling myself consistently, and why do I believe them?”
By doing this often enough, you begin to change the way you think. You may ask, “Why did that interaction make me so upset?” or “Why did I get anxious just thinking about how to handle this situation or that?”
Staying conscious of your thinking will help bring you freedom because you are no longer allowing yourself to drift through life on autopilot.
Instead, you stop to take time and consider yourself and your surroundings as you begin to open yourself up to the life right in front of your eyes. You take time to appreciate nature in all its complexity.
You thank God that you have breath in your lungs, food to eat, and love to spare.
Don’t discount your blessings as mere happenstance, for you could have been born to any nation, any race, any creed, and yet, you are who you are and where you are.
And if by chance, you were born into less-than-desirable circumstances, do not hold it against yourself, or your parents, or your grandparents, for they too were all born into the situations and circumstances given to them.
Embrace them, then hold your head up high and work towards a better future for those that come after you, so they too may experience the life you desire to live.
In everything you do, let your light shine.
Don’t let life slip through your fingers.
Much love to you all.
Josiah
