August 25, 2023 – A

Wetlands Sunrise Oil Paint Rendered 12/26/2011 — Four Mile Creek Greenway, Charlotte, North Carolina
Feeling what we are feeling,
seeing what we are seeing,
knowing what we are knowing,
is all a matter of practicing 
being present with what is present with us
and with how we are responding to it.

This initiates the process of transforming
the nature of our being in the world,
and changing our way of responding 
to our circumstances merely by being 
aware of how we are responding to our circumstances.

I observe servers in restaurants bringing 
four (maybe five) fully loaded plates 
to the table,
three laid out on one arm,
and carrying the fourth by the other,
and passing them out one by one
by being aware of the plates they are passing out
and being aware of the plates they are
continuing to balance,
and I think that's it!

If we all displayed that kind 
of here/now mindfulness in all that we do,
we would be doing what needs to be done,
when/where/how it needs to be done
in every moment.

Tending what needs to be tended
while being aware of all that is to be tended,
and doing things as is appropriate here/now
throughout our life,
with everything having its proper place
and nothing being neglected.

If we were living like emergency room personnel,
and like servers in a busy restaurant,
we would be doing life the way life needs to be done,
which would include taking naps
when naps are due,
and taking photographs 
when photographs are due.

Doing everything in its own place
and in its own time,
and letting the things that command
our time and attention
wait for their own place
and their own time--
which likely means not at all.

–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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