It’s been a strange few weeks, and don’t get me started about the past 18 months! Truth stranger than fiction, or is it that we are facing the oddest times any of us have faced? How did we get to “here” and where, oh, where are we going?
To know where to go, we must know from whence we came.
A starting point. Something we can pin, track, follow, and understand. Life should not be like waking up and find you have no memory of your past…struggles galore! If you have no clue of your past, how can you successfully move forward?
When you know where you have come from, it is often easier to comprehend a direction forward. No matter if it’s a new path, or following what brought you to this point. Your call. Don’t be a wanderer where any path will do.
Pick Your North Star
I’m not a student of astronomy, but I do love to look at the night sky. For hours, if the mosquitoes are at bay, I can watch the stars and dream about where I am, where they are, and what does it mean!
Of course, if you are above the equator you see something that I suspect those below the equator never see. The reverse is true.
Think about those who traversed the planet, guided by stars and constellations. This simply means someone kept an eye on the stars a long time ago, and you picked up their knowledge to help guide you.
Along the way we’ve all picked out certain stars that are shaped into an image we comprehend. Little Dipper. Big Dipper. North Star. The last two make up Alaska’s flag on a field of blue. Life in Alaska (16 years worth) were some of the best years in my life – Snow, Cold, Huge, Mountains! Along with my Texas roots where a Lone Star represents the independent spirit of the Republic that existed before it became a State. I’m proud of both flags and what they represent in my outlook to life.
But the North Star represents the idea of being able to know forward direction with a certainty of where I’m headed. Not magnetic north, but true north… Okay.. It’s a little bit off in light of the polar outlook on the planet, but the idea remains.
Know where you are,
where you want to go,
get your reference points…
Move on!
Life Is Complicated
We may claim a common foundation (humans), but each segment of the population has a differing outlook based on where they came to modern times from.
Most of us cannot name our genealogy past 100 years, much less what our source of continents may be from. I know why I enjoy the cold, my DNA sources me from Scotland (near the North Sea) and the Scandinavian culture where it’s a lot like life in Alaska – long summer days, long winter nights.
In fact, compare all of us back to the beginning (for me that’s Adam and Eve), and we see the commonality that exists for all of us. But then, Noah and the flood started the cycle over again but with a different structure.
Put any culture into an isolated place and time, we modify to fit the space. Think about all the tribes “discovered” in the jungles of South America – they adapted to their space and have no real clue of our modern life.
Factors of a Complicated Life
Languages source our heritage, and I suspect it frames our way of looking at life. Why are some languages called “romance” and others “guttural?” Add to that though our speaking patterns, and the slang we pick up and drop along the way. Words in vogue, then out. Definitions change.
Then, pick a “clan”… any clan… From a continental perspective, clans have something going for them that is unique to their source. From a clan, on to my immediate family… as in, us ‘4’ and no more – our views are framed by the reference of our source.
We narrow and broaden our life based on the answers to questions we learned back in school days. “Who, what, when, where, how, and why.” (Makes me wonder if “how” was originally spelled “whow?”
Grow, But Not By Yourself
This morning I chatted back and forth with someone about some shared beliefs, the sources and definitions of words we think we understand, and it pointed me to this thought.
We never grow in a vacuum.
Oxygen, nutrients, proper soil, temperatures, sun rays, night rests… Name it. Anything growing needs good circumstances.
My 5 acres has plenty of trees that grow from a root sprouted from another tree. I can mow, poison, chop and disfigure, but the source of the new growth comes from the old growth. Keep chopping closer to the old tree and you will destroy the old shade.
I was thinking about how we grow where we are planted, and if we stop growing then the next generation has nothing to anchor to and grow from.
Here’s My Thought Today
I started thinking this thought several days ago. Part of it is related to life as we know it, and the other part was attempting to identify the path we’re on. Where are we and where are we going? I cannot know the second question until I comprehend the first one.
Have you ever compared television of yesteryear to the stuff that is called “entertainment” today? There is no comparison. Even the advertisements are questionable! Why? We are different today than we were when I was a kid. 60 years of change has happened.
Back then, the bulk of our news came from the printed page, and that replaced the “town crier.” Today, we seldom see the print and listen to glamour personalities recite what someone else wrote from a teleprompter that represents a “corporate view.”
I suspect AI (Artificial Intelligence) will take over the news report soon.
Regardless, we are fed information and seldom do we interrogate it’s source. We either like the personality presenting it and what they say must be truth, or we are on the flip side – we don’t like and everything they say is false.
When I walk into a new barber shop, I pick the person I “think” will do a good job. Reality? I’m often stuck with the voice that says, “Next!” But I listen to the workers, compare their style, how are they dressed, and if they look weird then I don’t trust them. Why? We all do this on one level or another. We pick someone who fits within the frame of reference we have ourselves.
Make It A Spiritual Thought
A few examples of life that was, is, and you get to analyze where it’s gone.
- Jesus showed up and was rejected by some and accepted by others.
- Saul/Paul showed up and intimidated everyone, but eventually he changed sides and it was a new playground experience.
- Jonah accepted God’s command, then fled, then crawled out of the waters where he was vomited, did his job, then got angry when the city repented.
- The prodigal had it good, then something turned it attention a different way, and eventually that good became worse!
Israel was given a promised land, but spent hundreds of years away from the soil (Egypt, Wilderness, Moses, Joshua, you know…) and eventually occupied promised territory. But they had to fight to get it, keep it, and were only marginally successful. They still guard their borders closely today. Thousands of years later!
How do we define who we are, where we are, and where we want to go? Frame yourself where you are and understand your foundation. Look to where you want to go, grab your North Star and other waypoints. Move forward!