Being Present
Shoulders Square. Chest Out. Chin In
"Stand up straight and realize who you are, that you tower over your circumstances. You are a child of God. Stand up straight." - Maya Angelou
Being, in total, a part of The Great Adventure is, well, simply amazing. It's an awesome defiance of that grand scale - time. It is exciting. It is insightful. And it requires being present.
But!! Who has time? So much to do! This is unfinished; that is due already; things don't get done by themselves; time doesn't sit around and wait. No time!
No Time is a cool hiding place. But it's fast. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Exhausting. And before you know it . . . Time!
Not everyone is trying to hide. There are many powerful reasons some of us get caught in the cyclone of busyness - in that race against time which no one has yet won. It can feel like an adventure. But what if it is a wild ride to nowhere? Here is a cool way to know if it is and to slip off the threadwheel, if that's your aim. Take a deep breath. Breathe in. Deeply. Breathe out. Slowly. Keep it up. Are you ready?
Be In The Present
Realize Who You Are
So who am I? Why am I here? Where do I want to go? Why do I want to go there?
A thinker's delight! Don't grab the entire plata into one humungous mouthful. You'll choke. Chew one bite at a time. Enjoy the feast. Savor each bite. First, though, arrive into the present and into its presence. Savor the aroma. See what is before you. A feast! Now step aside and behold who you are. Let go of the past. Set it loose. Behold who you are. You are here at a table readied for a feast. This is a moment of silent gratitude. Behold who you are. It's not a ritual. Behold who you are. It's not left-overs. Behold who you are. It's not a bait. Behold who you are.
Be present in total - in body, mind and spirit. Realize who you are.
WHO ARE YOU?
Jesus came down from the mountain. I so like that news. I can practically hear the drums of glory. Tum-ta-dee-dom. Tum-ta-dee-dom. The Great Master has come down from the mountain. You just had to know then something is about to happen.
Jaws will drop. Eyes will pop. The dead will spring back to life.
The Twelve - Jesus' bros, that is - were with him. Huge crowds followed him around, astonished at all that was being accomplished by this remarkable man who has come down from the mountain. Some things Jesus did for the dire of the need. Some, Jesus did in the face of dares. All were done, such as has caused billions down through the centuries to marvel; such things that, surely, we ought to pause along our journey and engage individually, for we cannot possibly take them all in at once. We’ll miss something. We’ll miss something glorious.
Oh what a man!
He must’ve been exhausted though. Who wouldn’t be? He must’ve needed space - a place to replenish, a spot to be refreshed. Which leader wouldn't? He led The Twelve aboard a ship to cross over to the other side.
Oh, dear-dear!
I just have to think that by now you had to have heard of Super Storm Irene and Super Storm Sandy. Mhm! Mercy me! This was Super Storm Hold-On-To-Your-Belly. Turned that ship into a matchbox. Tossed it about like a ragdoll. Flooded it like Katrina. All this while Jesus is on a pillow way in the back of the ship, all by his lonesome, sleeping. Mhm! Sleeping. Grown men screaming; Jesus sleeping.
Trainees!
So scared the men were, they tumbled back to where Jesus was, woke him up, and rebuked him: "YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT US! We're going down; You are sleeping."
Jesus rebuked them right back. "Haven't you learned anything? Stand up straight! Realize who you are!" Then Jesus spoke to the storm. "Peace. Be Still." That storm tucked its tail between its legs and wimpered right back into the deep. Mhm!
AWESOME!
Twelve Grown Men's jaws dropped at the sight of that wimpering storm. Their eyes popped. They looked at each other and said. "What kind of man is this?"
WHAT KIND OF MAN IS THIS?
WHO ARE YOU?
Shoulders Square. Chest Out. Chin In. BEHOLD WHO YOU ARE!
“We can't change every little thing that happens to us in life. We can change the way we experience them.” ― Andy Puddicombe
"Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are.”
― Gretel Ehrlich
“Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember, a source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion.”
― Lorraine Anderson
WHO ARE YOU?
"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." ~ Jesus
"No Need To Be Anxious." This is your life; only YOU can live it.
P R E S E N C E
TODAY IS A NEW DAY
You Are Necessary To The Day
Hmm! Just checked. 44 ENGLISH translations in my library. Wow! No wonder. Nevertheless, here's a titsy-bit ripped from a certain well known letter:
And the peace of God
which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts
and minds
in Christ Jesus
So what if someone prefers to use it like a fortune cookie! Hey, it's a free world. What if this is 2333, and you are now finding this tidbit, wouldn't you want to know where it came from and who wrote it to whom when and why? Maybe. Well then! Oh the wonder of an archaelogical dig leading one to find and discover with one's own hands and eyes and ears and heart and mind what else is in this letter . . . then thinkon these things; lest your heart and mind be left unguarded.
I reflect upon these personal tidbits not on account of an urge to stand naked before a mirror. Rather, to recount in gratitude and refreshed wonder the glorious intrigue of a joyous life.
I learned to swim - dangerously so - driven to it by a very traumatic experience. I learned to ride a bike by dint of a deception. Or was it faith? Or was it belief? Or was it trust?
My uncle arrived in response to an urgent call. Upon arrival, I fell in love with his bike. Nevermind the trouble I almost got both him and me into only minutes prior because I fell in love with his bike right in the face of that terrible urgency, I think most young uncles want to please their young nephews. Besides, he was once a boy too, so he gave in to my longing and soothed my mother into letting me have my way just this once.
Except being towed, I had never been this close to a bike. Never rode a tricycle. Never rode a training bike. Never set my feet on the pedals of a bike before this day! Nevertheless, my uncle set about letting me achieve this dream of mine. He was going to teach me, just this once, how to ride a bike.
"Just this once!" My mother confirmed.
Just this once!
I held on to the bike handles the way my wise uncle directed me to hold them. He placed my left foot on the left pedal and my right foot on the right pedal and told me that I would have to move each foot up and down, like so. Can you do that? Of course. Who can't do that? Then he promised my mother and I that he would hold onto the seat (I was, of course, not anywhere near tall enough to reach up and sit on his seat even though he was not that tall of a man) and that he would push me along to the end of the street and back. This was going to be so much fun. I was beside myself elated. I'm quite sure I was all teeth - head to toe - and our neighbors were out and about ready to observe my extraordinary hope.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes, Uncle Pats."
"Start pedalling."
I pedaled and pedaled and pedaled and pedaled. The turns of the front wheel and the rhythm of my pedaling remain fresh with me to this day. I kept going and going and going - it was a good way along - and going and going, and the cross street was coming up, across which was a patch of grass, and beyond that was the trench (a fairly wide stream decorated with alive lilies and occupied by happy ducks with their ducklings). But you must know how uncles are with boys. They just love to push boys to the limit. He had not taught me how to pull the brake. That should not have been a problem, since he could readily pull the bike to a stop.
But the cross street and the trench kept coming toward me faster and faster with no slow-up by my uncle and all I knew to do was to pedal, so I kept pedaling - too dumb or giddy to stop pedaling.
"Stop the bike, Uncle Pats." He didn't. "Stop the bike. Stop the bike. Stop it. Stop it."
He didn't.
I looked around, still pedaling, to make him stop it before I end up in the trench and drown. Just then I heard him shouting from way back down the street where my mother was standing. "Pull the brakes. Pull the brakes," he shouted.
Of course, it didn't matter, for I went slamming into the grass and sliding toward the trench. And he forthwith came racing down the street to save me. And I right then did not care how many bruises I had or how much they were burning me, for in that dramatic moment, I realized what everyone in the neighborhood already knew. My uncle was never holding me up. I was riding that bike all the way along. Who-ah!
There are some lessons in life no one can take away from a boy. This is but one!
Call it what you will. I rode the bike. I still can.
FAITH REPLACES DOUBT
BE WHO YOU ARE
I cherish the moments
Every Moment Is Precious
- A weekly INSPIRATIONAL PRESENTATION, with gem-sparkling Personal & other TRUE STORIES -
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