Passing of Time

The last week or so I cited someone's comment to me that the passing of time was obviously important to me. I have considered that reality and wondered how long that has been going on. Is this a midlife matter or something that rests at a more cellular level. As I've thought about the matter, I found clues further and further in my past when I was touched or concerned about the passing of time. A poem that I wrote at age 17 about honoring an old man and wondering whether he had hard feelings of lost abilities and memories was clearly influenced by Neil Young's "Old Man." The song was influential, and I was naturally receptive.

But today, as I struggle for words with this week's Listen to Life newsletter, I select tunes that take me back to a different time and place. "Puff the Magic Dragon" plays and the answer comes clear. The reason that I still cry when I read Sly Silverstein's "The Giving Tree" is the same reason that after a few listens to "Puff" as a young kid, I could not listen to it for decades. They both to speak to the changes, the losses, and the mortality of aging, and how that changes relationships. They also speak to the permanence of love throughout.

The passing of time has always concerned and intrigued me; I've done my best to honor that through my creative outlets as an adult. I realize that this concern is nothing new that I need to re-align to forge into the future. My concern for changes manifested over time and for the lasting of love and relationships was written into my DNA. The question remains, what do I do with this? and now how can I get rid of this?

Book sample

Please take a moment to check out sample chapters of my book at http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/book_excerpt.asp?bookid=30244. The samples touch on beauty, leaving relationships, the best self-help tool, and the power of pillow talk.

Enjoy.

The Journey continues

The old joke comes to mind...the one about the man who says God will take care of him as the huge hurricane is coming. At different stages of the flood, up until the time when the man is on his roof, various people come by to help him evacuate from the dangerous situation. Each time, he replies, "God will take care of me." When he drowns and goes to heaven, he says to God, "I thought you were going to take care of me." "I tried," God replied, "with the neighbor, the fireman and then the Coast Guard guy."

The dual messages come to mind next: do we really know when and how God is influencing us and/or our lives? and God's work is done through God's people.

I struggle with both issues on a daily basis. Are the multitude of frustrations in one realm of my life actually "signals" to leave that situation for something different, or are they shaping and forging me to do God's work there? I prefer to think it is the latter, but I wonder if it is the first. Perhaps circumstances are God's way of saying, "time to move on to your calling. See? There is nothing for you where you are." Or is it that? Only prayer and discernment provides some clues, but never the clear answers.

No matter what the message is, it is undoubtable that people are the hands and feet of God, i.e., the physical presence. Each opportunity to meet someone new, or to interact genuinely, is the chance to access just a bit more of His power, grace and flame.