I’m taking a stroll through old posts and sharing them again.
Perhaps we could call this morning a melancholy mood or simply wishful thinking, daydreaming, or introspection. Have you ever tossed a coin into a wishing well? I never understood the logic. You can’t buy your wishes from a central spot everyone else uses to hope for a better outcome.
Still. This morning…
Where am I? What’s missing? Did I miss out on something I should have taken a chance on? Who should I have kept better in touch with? Was I the best friend possible? Have I taken enough chances? Risked enough? Did I extend enough mercy, grace, and friendship? Or did I simply cut my losses and move on?
We make choices based on perspective and desires and less often on hard data. Has my perspective been skewed? Am I on solid ground? Are my desires lined up along the right path? Have you ever second-guessed your next step? Wavered on a direction? Lost sleep on the “what-ifs”?
Hence, my morning thought… Wishes from a wishing well…
Introspection
I love my family to the moon and back or so says someone who thinks their family is better than everyone. Yet, we all know that family dynamics are often messy, and if the soap operas of the past and present are any indicator, there are things better left to private conversations. There is nothing public here. Yet, I wish that we were all closer. Physically and in the same neck of the woods. Yet, every one of us knows this wish will not be realized. When you’ve tasted the sweet destinations of the far north, how can you ever live in the muggy part of the world nicknamed the “Bayou City”?
Through the years, I’ve been thankful for my IT career, but there were places I never went with it that I wish I could have! I’ve been on the bleeding edge of technology but not the creative edge. My present space is the comfortable status of waiting for things to be stable before investing time and money.
I stepped out late last night and watched the stars and satellites streaking and hoped to see a meteorite. Maybe, introspectively, I should have had a career revolving around the sky—flying, airports, and astronomy. I feel sorry for those who are not blown away by the night sky. There is so much more there than meets the eye!
Equally, I’ve fallen in love with spending time on my tractor. Back in my younger days, I watched a man dig a perfect rectangle hole about 6 feet deep—coffin size, you might say—with razor-sharp edges and corners. I was challenged, but I never felt the need to learn how—until I got older!
Analyze This
I enjoy reading others’ approaches to uniquely handling the challenges of life. Here’s a wonderful article about a man with a long Hollywood career and equally long marriage (over 60 years of each). He shared three words that were the most important advice he could give: (The story no longer exists, but you can find references to it looking for Alan Alda and these three words: Adapt, adjust, and revise..).
Alan Alda was receiving an honorary doctorate degree in Scotland, and they gave him 3 1/2 minutes to speak. What would you say? Do you have a wise doctoral statement you utter? What motto, slogan, or foundation could you share that would inspire the audience? He could tell them about his father, career, marriage, kids, and life. The older we get, the wiser we are!
His wise words were simple. Adapt. Adust. Revise.
Someone started a cycle of considering what it would be like to tell that 21-year-old version of themselves the wisdom they had learned in the future. What would you say to yourself? Well, that’s getting closer to 50 years ago than I’d like to think. But if I could speak to myself, what would I want to hear? Well, just like with a teenager, you can’t tell a 20-something anything. This is a wasted exercise.
But I do know that if I could have seen the ending with a better vision, then there are more things I would have done with my life’s trajectory: God and ministry, family and connections, and career.
What Are You Willing To Do
There is an old Scottish Proverb [Source] that goes like this.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
If turnips were watches, I’d wear one by my side.
If “ifs” and “ands” were pots and pans,
There’d be no work for tinkers’ hands.
This was supposed to be a common road song to help you march from here to there, from this point to that point. The walkers wished for horses, but the reality was that horses were an impossibility to attain. Their expense, upkeep, and the fear of losing them to royalty generally kept the common man from ever owning a more convenient traveling mode.
I don’t have horses today because of property changes, upkeep costs, and emergency expenditures. Who cares for them when we travel? It does not make sense!
We don’t have horses, but we have 3 dogs, 2 cats, 11 chickens, and 1 parrot.
What is the Key?
Maybe the key to attaining our wishes is understanding that it takes hard work to acquire anything in life and, equally, hard work, money, and time to maintain what we do acquire.
“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.”
~Thomas Jefferson
This goes hand in glove with the greatest inventor we can all name.
“Opportunity is missed by most people
because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
~Thomas Edison
I was visiting with my niece and her husband yesterday. He shared a testimony of an open door, and all he had to do was obey God and step through and into the opportunity. Without question, he did. Three years later, the choice he made is realized based not only on his obedience. He did not step through the door and wait. Rather, he stepped and worked.
What if we all lived like this?
Step through when the opportunity is right, but don’t just sit back and wait for the success to flow into your life. No. The key? All opportunities take hard work, and if you are going to find success, you must be ready to move!
Thank you for reading.
Please share with others.
It helps me get my book written!