River

Greg and I were talking the other day about time. He was upset about how long it was taking us to get moved into our house completely, he was concerned about money, he was frustrated that the house wasn’t very clean at the moment. We sat on the floor of our living room (still need couches!) and stared at each other for a while, I was thinking, and he was too. Finally he asked me why I wasn’t as bothered by all this as much as he was, why I wasn’t taking life as seriously.

That was a question I didn’t have an immediate answer to. Why wouldn’t I be as upset as him that so many things were going wrong, were going right, that life was moving so swiftly now that we could hardly keep up. . . and after a bit of thought, I realized that it’s a deep-seated life’s philosophy that I have, that I’ve never really examined before.

Life is a river, and time is the current. There are times that the current pulls you along swiftly, and times that you meander with all the speed of a summer’s day. There are bends and turns, some unexpected, some expected. Some moments time can’t pull you away fast enough, others are so precious, so dear that we want to hang on to them, and they’re gone in an instant. I have all those in my life’s river, I’m sure you do too. The funny thing is that everything we have here is so. . . .impermanent, so trivial. It’s difficult to take things seriously when you know they’ll be gone in a month, a year, 10 years. . . the river moves on and takes you with it, ultimately leaving your possessions and youth behind. So what is there that you should take seriously? What should you invest your emotional energy in with all the life and death passion that you look at the monthly finances with?

Your spiritual journey. Take care of your body, soul, and spirit. Without those all in place and functioning correctly, you’ve lost your best ally in this adventure. Without those in place you won't have the strength to really take care of your next charge;

Relationships.

It seems to me that people can get so caught up in the little things, and place so much stress on them that they lose perspective. The spouse/partner/friend that years previously you couldn’t even breathe without becomes a side priority, and something else takes center stage. That relationship that took you so long to cultivate and mature starts to wither for lack of attention. . . and that new thing you’re focusing on isn’t even that important compared to the bigger picture.

Greg and I had to sit down and realize (not for the first time, probably not for the last time) that a house, furniture, jobs or material possessions can all come and go, but it’s our relationship that will stand the test of time if we continue to nurture it. I found that so profound that I had to share it, regardless of how obvious it may seem. I think this world encourages us to focus on things that don’t matter, and I hope that this gets you to thinking about the things that do. Don’t let the current rip you away from what you hold dear simply for lack of attention.