July 06, 2023 – A

Goldfinches 08/17/2016 Oil Paint Rendered — Scenes From My Hammock, Indian Land, South Carolina
Our ghosts are not out to get us.
Everything inside is on our side.
Our ghosts represent things
we need to clean up,
change our perspective about,
turn the light around concerning,
and remind us of things we needs to change.

We call the things that are calling us to grow up,
"evil, horrible, bad, terrible, etc."
because they interfere with our having our way
and getting what we want.

Having our way and getting what we want
are the worst things that can happen to us,
and a quick inventory of our past will likely
unveil how the worst things that happen to us
are the best things that happened to us,
and the best things that happened to us
are the worst things that happened to us.

Everything that happens to us
is another opportunity to grow up,
square up with how things are
and what is being asked of us,
stand up and do the necessary thing.

I take the things I most do not want to do,
and work with them
until I can transform them
or work out a compromise with them,
generally built around the theme
of making the best of what I do not want to do
by guarding what is important to me
while doing what needs me to do it.

There are two sacred/holy/sacrosanct aspects 
of every day,
morning and evening.
I have nothing at stake mid-day,
and can generally work in a nap
of about 30 minutes
between 1 and 3 PM.

So, I guard my mornings and my evenings,
and use mid-day to barter with what 
wants me to do it that I don't want to do,
often by taking it to lunch.

I'm sure I could be a crabby old man
if it weren't for doing the things I don't want to do
that need me to do them.
Just saying, "No!" would not be good for me
over the long term.

I understand that 
and say, "How about lunch tomorrow?"

–0–

Published by jimwdollar

I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing. I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters, five granddaughters, one great granddaughter, and a great grandson on the way, within about ten minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything.

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