A friend of mine has been in and out of the hospital recently
and I went by to visit him today. We spent an hour or so talking about the doctor’s
game plan going forward and the possibility he could be there a little longer.
While we sat there talking about work and how noticeable his absence is, I was
struck by the notion of how lucky I am and the knowing that our roles could easily
be reversed in the blink of an eye. We talked quite a while about Faith and
Gratitude and how important they are when Life throws you a Koufax style
curveball. We discussed Faith in the outcome,
Faith in the good you put out to the world and have it come back to you. Also having the Gratitude for wanting what we have, not
necessarily always having what we want. Faith can be a funny thing if I stop to
think about it. I ‘m talking about the everyday Faith that is overlooked
whether we turn on a light and know it will come on, or getting behind the
wheel of a car and having Faith the driver coming in the other direction will
stay on his side of the line. Knowing
that and recognizing that makes me grateful for always having examples of
things to be grateful for. Where Gratitude gets lost along the way is in not being
able to see past the things that occur and forgetting to look at them from another
viewpoint; the line at the checkout may be long though I’m grateful I can stand on
my own two feet in that line and when it’s my turn be able to the pay the lady
and go, or the broken shoelace when I’m already late and instead of getting angry
know that I’ve provided myself another pair of shoes as an option, Those are just a couple of the myriad examples that pass through my experience each day. I work at
reminding myself each day when I wake in my own bed, in my house, put my feet
on the floor and sit up, walk to my own bathroom with running water to wash my
face then amble on to my kitchen for a cup of coffee that I am grateful for
that and more. Those thoroughly mundane things that if someone was watching a video
feed of me in the morning their reaction would probably be, “why am I watching some dude
in his skivvies get ready for work, there’s has to be better stuff on this time
of morning”, whereas from my side of that lens I see anything is possible today
because I can do those things. Some folks aren’t lucky enough to be able do some
or any of those things I do each morning; myself I am Grateful that I can.
I understand why monks primarily
live as they do, as far as possible outside the daily hub bub and white noise
we are bombarded with daily; it sure makes it easier to be a thoroughly
spiritual individual. The test for me
each day is stay on the right side of Life, Truth and Love and live it out in
all my dealings no matters what or who I cross paths with; wearing the world as
a loose garment so to speak, which of course is easier some days than others. My wish for you today is that your path includes a
loose garment of your own. Namaste.
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