New Year Thoughts

Life goes on. Sometimes at a breakneck pace. No time to stop and smell the roses, or to mend a friendship, or to give in to a child’s simple desire.

This New Year, my schedule will not my god, nor will my wealth be my main concern.

You see, I have danced with Death, and I’m still here. Having won – or been given a reprieve, I’m not going to waste the time I have left, as I seem to have done before, chasing the Almighty Buck.

My dear wife, having gone though all that I have gone through, steadfastly by my side through Chemo and recovery, hasn’t a clue about any of this.

She gets angry that I no longer get angry about trite things, as I used to. She is concerned that I no longer have the drive I once did, and that I want to take too many detours in life, to see all the things I never made the time to see. She still works, and she still keeps to the clock, and it is little wonder that she doesn’t understand this new thing in me.

You see, she hasn’t danced with Death and been given a reprieve. It seems to be a private thing.

I think about my kids and how they are doing, so I call or go visit them. I miss friends whom I’ve not talked to in ages, so I call them up too, or go see them myself. I now notice the wonder of things around me, which have always been there, but have mostly gone unnoticed.

I’m not mending fences here. What I’m really doing is trying to live a life worth living. I am taking the time to do the things I have always wanted to do, but never allowed myself. I was too busy, too in debt, or my plate was too full from everything else I thought I must do to get ahead.

“Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.” ( LINK )

Funny thing about getting ahead. Once you do it, you find there is no one else there with you. You look back and all you see are the people you once loved and now miss. You see the wreckage of relationships that should have been the most precious thing to you, but you never had the time. You think of all those missed sunsets, the songs and roses unheard and unfelt, and all the daily beauty that you were too busy to notice. These things were there every day, but you had to work instead.

What advice would I give to anyone who hasn’t had to dance with Death?

Free your heart from hatred. Why allow enemies and issues to rule your life?

Free your mind from worries. Most of them will never happen.

Live simply. Remove the excess possessions that choke your existence and steal your time.

Give more. Expect less. (attributed to various sources)

Spend time with those you love, and with the beauty that daily surrounds you.

And in all of this, think about your Creator. He must love you very much, having made you so well, and having given you a life that is so full of people to love and beauty to behold. Therefore, while you can, learn about gratitude. It is a most liberating experience!

(Yeah, I know. Stuff you have heard before. Nothing earth-shaking, but something worth reflecting upon, in this short time between holiday and work.)

My sincere wish for each of you is that this New Year finds you and yours well, and at peace, and in love.

Love,
Roger
“Your mileage may vary”

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