July 29, 2024 – A

There is what we make of it,
and what we do with it,
and that's that.

Our reflections 
lead to realizations
that impact the way we think
and live.

Thinking about our thinking
and our living
transforms both.

What leads us to think the way we do?
To live the way we live?
Why do we do it this way
and not some other way instead?

What do we care about?
Why?

We are right here, now,
by virtue of a long line
of circumstances
and the ways we responded to them,
of the choices we had
and the decisions we made.

We did not have here, now in mind
at any point along the way.
What might we have thought/done
that we did not think/do
that would have changed things
for better or worse?

Marriage and seminary were my
significant choices,
then how to be married
and what to do with a seminary degree
set a course guided by interests
and opportunity that bought me here, now.

The "Not Me" is as significant as the "Me."
I have said, "No!" to as much 
as I have said "Yes!" to.

Together they combine to put me here, now.
And I can imagine worse
a lot easier than I can imagine better.

I hope you can say the same!

And, may it continue to be said for us all
the rest of the way!