Surely we all have a destination in mind. A goal of some place to travel to, or some ending place to end up at. Right? Some future point that when we arrive we can recognize the hard work and grindstone we used to reach the goal! Suddenly, it becomes our theme for life!
Some want to embrace life with Gusto! Other’s choose a safer path. Others want the constant adrenalin rush, while others like to conserve their energy. As I’ve often said, the journey is the destination, and each step of life is affected by the choices you make, and what goals you are aiming for.
Have you ever walked into a furniture store and look at the “room designs” and say, “That’s what I want!” I remember walking into a church of my past and telling the pastor they have designed a church that I could feel comfortable being connected to – it had colors and lighting that drew me in. Room designs speak to you, themes that make you feel comfortable, or they may drive you to another room!
Themes From Seasons
This reminds me of people I know that dress up like characters in some show. They want to imitate their idea of that character, so, from the shoes they wear to the hat that tops their head, everything they do follows the theme of some persona. I’m thinking about someone who likes to dress like Indiana Jones or the Maclean brothers in “A River Runs Through It”. Never mind all the little Harry Potters or Elsa’s running underfoot.
It’s almost like we find a “theme” that we enjoy and pattern our life to an image of that theme presented.
There are seasons of life that have different themes. The goal is to keep reaching forward to the ending, but themes may change due to circumstances. We need to adapt our view of the world to what we face in real life, but some themes should never change.
Okay. Sometimes our theme choices are too shallow, too deep, too broad or too narrow, but when you have a goal in mind for some future date, then painting the various themes of life that will make you satisfied in both the “here and now” and that far off place and time…well, it may be one of the most important things you do!
A theme can be your mission in life, just like the Apostle Paul: “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ” (1 Corinthians 2:2)
Some companies design a new theme of advertising, and it changes with the seasons, or after one has been proven to not produce the results. In a minor way, a theme can simply be your slogan. But before you leave this thought, “slogan” is a Scottish war cry! Make sure your theme or slogan can be maintained! We are not always on a war footing!
Let me share with you a few themes of life I have.
Married
When my bride and I married, we committed “…till death you do part”. There has not been a second pass me by that I doubted we made a good choice with each other! Some men thematically call this part of their life as, “Happy Wife, Happy Life!” That’s not a bad theme but it is often single-sided to only think of another person’s happiness as the reason why you are successfully moving forward! I much rather think along the line that we are a Team with a goal of a Common Future.
My theme is that we are partners,
who share the experience and realize not one carries the load and the other gets a free ride.
We are in this together!
Friendship
Friendship has always been something I take for granted. Either I have friends, or not, regardless, I keep living life without that connection that some seem to require. Do I have friends? Yes. Some are physically closer than others, and occasionally we chat on the phone, and seldom do we get to sit across the dinner table from each other, but friends they are. But let life throw the other under a steamroller and it seems we know best how to be called a friend that will stick closer than a brother!
My theme is that friends come and go,
but a true friend is someone who is always there when life demands, and you respond in kind.
Friendship is not a one-way street!
Career
When you started your career did you always look ahead to the next growth opportunity? I never stop looking at this and finding the amazement that I was always ready to take the next step. I remember dinosaurs in the company who still preferred writing computer code out by hand and turning it into a Keypunch Operator to create the code deck they would process, one card at a time. Today, I cannot find many who have ever seen a Keypunch Card, much less used an IBM 029 to create their code! But there was a time when people resisted the future! Wait. I think that time is still here!
My theme was doing the job the best way I knew how, but always looking for growth opportunities.
Never stop growing!
Themes I Missed Out On
If there were some things I wished I had started earlier in life as a theme for success it would probably relate to healthy choices, choosing better hobbies, shedding the weight of stuff because I lived too close to some who came out of the depression era and could not throw anything away. The idea that you “are who you are” does not have to be accepted. You choose who you want to be and bend the world around you to support that viewpoint!
My theme is improving my choices as I age…
but this is one theme I wished I could revisit earlier in life.
It is never too late to find those theme’s of living that will get you to your future much better off. In fact, you may have your themes in place, and just never thought about your foundation. Spending time thinking through this should help you as you keep progressing down the path toward your goal.
Just like Steve Smith says on the closing of the mid-life musings segment of the”Red Green Show”,
Remember, I’m pulling for you. We’re all in this together! ~Steve Smith, Red Green Show Share on X