Some time ago, I was so consumed with the “what’s next” of my life. I could never fully appreciate what was happening all around me. I wasn’t living in the moment, because I was so occupied by what was ahead of me.
One day, I had had enough. “Lord, can you help me to see the beauty in all things,” I prayed. My prayer was answered. From that day forward, my attention would be drawn towards something different I hadn’t noticed before. Flowers. Trees. Clouds. Colors. People. These were just some of the things that were newly brought to my attention.
By all means, my awareness had been heightened.
As I became more aware of the beauty that surrounded me daily, I also became keenly aware of not-so-beautiful things as well. Poverty, senseless killings, the lack of integrity among everyday people, strife, war, wasted resources, the state of the have-nots and the like were beginning to eat me alive.
But recently, this dawned on me: When I prayed for awareness, I was thinking of only being aware of the cute, pretty and loveliness of life. It doesn’t quite work that way. Although I received what I prayed for, I also got so much more. I had to decide what I was going to focus on. I can still be aware of the issues of today’s world. I have a responsibility to help change things in any way that I can. But, I also have a self-promise to uphold my happiness as well by focusing on the lovely things that I see each day. A dual responsibility, if you will.
Until Next Time,
Love, Peace & Beauty.
-Herbie
Merriam-Webster defines hindsight as,”the knowledge and understanding that you have about an event only after it has happened.” Wow: only after it has happened. Why can’t things be obvious while I am going through it (that question pains me to even type)? who knows: maybe things are obvious and I just choose to see what I want to.
The thing I’ve learned most about kids is that kids are honest, are oblivious to caution and are fun-loving beings. They are, in fact, oblivious to many things. Children like what they like, and that’s that. They dive head first into whatever they’re doing, and are not concerned about anyone else while they do it. They exude love, and passion in its purest form. They truly dance as though no one is looking.
I had to come to understand a few things. Firstly, people put their best-foot-forward in most situations. People rarely post things that put themselves (or those they love) in a bad light. I haven’t read a post entitled, “It’s Monday people! I hope your day is as jacked up as my life is! #nopeace #nolove #effmylife #effyourstoo.” With that being said, we aren’t privy to the dark times that many people face (but I wasn’t thinking about all of this as I was perused through status updates). Does it mean that people aren’t experiencing challenging times? It most certainly doesn’t mean that. It just means that people are more selective with what they post.
There was this one time at our church’s annual Christmas Play, that Artie wasn’t on the drums (and my brother was nowhere to be found). They were singing, “Why don’t you pray for me, sometime.” I grabbed the sticks and played my little heart out. It was the last song of the evening, so it was very short, but I was excited to play.
