August 09, 2021

01

We keep looking for something
to make it easy to grow up,
while avoiding the matter
until we find what we are looking for.

All it takes is standing up
and doing what needs to be done.
Time after time.
Without emotional response.

We spill the milk.
We clean the milk up.
Period.
No remonstrating.
No drama.
No whining.
No moaning.
No complaining.
No rolling in the floor crying.

We look for solutions to problems
and go down the list
until we find what works
with all things considered.

Growing up is a matter of 
sizing things up
in each situation as it arises,
and doing what needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
because it needs to be done,
moment by moment,
day by day.

This is also the central feature
of a life grounded in the present
and doing what is called for
by the context and circumstances
of this time and place.

It doesn't matter what we want
or how we feel
or what mood we are in
or what the implications 
are for us personally.

What matters is responding to the moment
the way the moment needs to be responded to.

Like emergency room personnel 
greeting whatever comes through the door.

We live in an emergency room.
What happens throughout each day
is ours to deal with
in ways appropriate to the occasion
in each situation as it arises.

All. Day. Long.

That will grow us up
in no time at all.

–0–

02

We have all we need
to find what we need
to do what needs to be done.

Always have,
always will.

What it takes 
to do what it takes
is the "Thy will not mine,
be done" mentallity
that is the hallmark
of the Garden of Gethsemane--
with the "Thy" understood to be
the situation at hand
and the Tao-Mind-Psyche-Awareness
that always has pace and timing
as its highest priority,
and knows beyond knowing
what is called for
in this time and place
for all times and places
there ever have been or will be.

If you are going to take anything on faith,
let it be this,
and get "Thy will not mine be done"
down, operational and in place
for all the times and places 
of your life.

–0–

03

Doing what needs to be done
with what we have to work with
in each situation as it arises
is always the challenge.

This is the choice of Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden
in each situation as it arises.

There is what needs to be done,
and what we want to do,
and what we have to work with,
and that's it.

It is never more difficult that this.

What are we going to do,
here and now?

The future hinges on the response we make
to the moment of our living,
moment-by-moment.

This is the choice of Jesus of Nazareth
in the Garden of Gethsemane
in each situation as it arises.

It is never more difficult than this.

What are we going to do,
here and now?

Everything hangs in the balance.

Waiting.

–0–

04

"Here we are, now what?"
is always the operative question,
in each situation as it arises.

It requires stopping, looking, listening,
to know what's what
and what needs to be done about it.

And the answer is always the same:
"The next thing."

The next thing, 
right here, right now.

Forget the overall response to the overall need.
Forget the general strategy necessary
for impacting The Situation As A Whole
nation-wide and world-wide.

Focus on the moment of our breathing,
of our being,
right here,
right now.

What is the next thing here and now?
Do that.

Without losing sight of the long term
and the bigger picture.

We walk two paths at the same time.
And the path to then and there
is also the path through the here and now.
Do not ignore the present moment,
absorbed in the ultimate and the absolute.