I’ve been thinking about you.
I have been thinking about your faith.
I’ve been thinking about your pain.
I’ve been thinking about your joy.
I’ve been thinking about your life.
Joy comes and goes. Pain comes and goes. Our breathing comes and goes. Our living comes and goes.
And we have oh so many feelings about this.
Feelings have the potential to overwhelm us. We can easily feel consumed and generalize that to all of life.
In my living, I have come to believe the biggest mistake I can ever make is believing that any singular, isolated moment is the totality of living.
It’s not. Truly it’s not. Yet I keep getting stuck as though it is all there is to this being in life.
No singular moment is the entirety of life.
No singular moment defines our being.
No singular moment will provide what we often desperately want and need: to know the meaning of it all and to know that we matter.
So then… the questions return:
What’s the point of all of this?
What are we doing here?
What is life?
I don’t glean much comfort and edification from the constant string of voices that is our present day reality. I can’t sift through the endless run on sentence of hate that ruins, maims and destroys the gift of living across all space and time of our shared history.
Too much.
Not helpful.
Not God.
Instead of listening to these loud, angry, unkind voices that we amplify all the time, I have something very powerful I can do.
I have what you have: the observation of everyday living and the invitation to wonder.
It moves me.
It nourishes me.
It emboldens me.
It challenges me.
It comforts me.
As the wonder steps up within, I look around and see authentic expressions of life everywhere. Each moment I allow the vulnerability of questions about this world we live in and my place in it, I get a small clue as to what this living may be about.
That journey goes something like this:
What is life?
If the ants are to be believed, life is a hard, constant, vigilant work among your fellows to reach a common goal feeding the need for security.
What is life?
If the trees are to be believed, life is the growth within creating the beauty that is in full view of the world. The health within creates the visible presence we all take refuge in.
What is life?
If rainbows are to be believed, life is the subtle, brilliant shining of light and color. It is the joyous announcement that the storm has passed.
What is life?
If the seasons are to be believed, life is changing in such a way that newness of being is not only possible, it is inevitable; it says if winter feels far too brutal it will be spring again.
What is life?
If the sea is to be believed, life is timing the rhythm of being, retreating and returning, all the while showing off and showing up for the moon.
What is life?
If the flame is to be believed, life is using the source of breath to stretch as far as possible toward the sun. It is the need, the want and the willingness to find the way home.
This living offers us so many moments, so many stories, so many commonalities, so many differences, so many hopes, so many fears, so many sorrows, so many joys.
It’s gotta make you wonder.