Two wires and a dry pasture
Swimming Through Time
I looked out the window and didn’t see what I expected to
see. I looked again. I still didn’t see it! I looked a third time more earnestly. Nothing!
It was early in the morning and I was already thinking about the
future. However, this little dose of
“the moment” snapped me back to right now.
“This wasn’t what I wanted to do this morning. My life is
like swimming up stream!” I muttered to myself.
At the same time, I knew that if I didn’t solve the problem right “now”
a significant area of my pastureland wouldn’t get the water it needed to live. So, I got into some work clothes and began to
walk back to see if I could identify the valve or electrical problem causing
the disruption.
The walking soon allowed the tall grass to tickle my senses
and my thoughts began to focus on the issue at hand. I was searching for a solution!
Such seemingly trivial problems or tasks have always been
part of my life. I suspect they’re part
of your life as well. And, on this
particular morning, the glow of the sun haloing in the eastern sky acted as a
revelatory catalyst to teach me about how to stop struggling against the
current.
Just under twenty years ago the surrounding high mountain
desert had swallowed up this same piece of ground. Now I was enjoying the lanky grass topped with
tassels of seed waving at me as I passed.
It was a small thing, but not insignificant!
Each step caused me to recall the many slight and
undesirable tasks I had completed to transform this land. Now I was walking through the
all-inclusive. The sum of all the small
undertakings knitted together to form the whole. It was eye opening! And, the sun seemed to
burst its way over the peaks as if announcing that the day had arrived along
with my new appreciation of how small things had combined, with time, to create
something of magnificence.
It seems as if we, you and I, often miss the magnificence
and significance of the small moment. We’re so busy planning for our future
that we often don’t take pride in the tasks we’ve been given right now. We just take each moment for granted; deposit
our salary (or commission) and dream wistfully of the amazing things we’re
going to do in the future. The things
that are more suited to our talents and us.
Or, we harbor some animosity for our current circumstances thinking,
“What am I doing? This job or seemingly menial task is a waste of time!”
How silly we can be!
Everything, every task or assignment matters! It doesn’t matter if we’re fixing sprinklers,
mucking stalls, or taking tickets at the local movie theater. Overlooking small things as simply a means to
an end is an oversight. Everything is a
chance for you and I to do our very best and can be transformative if we will
simple respond to whatever life throws at us with:
Hard work.
Honesty.
Helping.
When we focus our efforts in this way, we begin to partner with
time. We begin to swim with its current
and to see our future in a new and different way. It is revealed to us, not as a wish, but
moment-by-moment in a way that is reminiscent of a bricklayer’s technique.
“Step-by-step,” I recited on my way toward the dry back
pasture! I looked around and smiled, no
longer upset at the inconvenience. I
knew that my best work, applied to this very moment, was creating something of
beauty and significance. I held that
future in my hands as I repaired two small wires.
You’ll love swimming through time!
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