Silver Linings

The glory of wisdom..

The longer I live the more I realize that wisdom is something we have to learn the hard way. It’s good to be wise and it’s no joke. Wisdom comes with great pain.

How do we get wise without falling short of negativity, pride and sarcasm? From everything I have read lately the resounding theme is that if we eliminate all pain from our lives then everything will be better. There are many solutions to avoid pain. Government, tech, science and drug manuafacturers show us the way. Yet history proves that the wisest of all have experienced or suffered great pain. They have signed up, dove in, worked the long hours, expected nothing in return, pushed through immense challenge, kept their heads above water, lost everything, rebuilt and came out the other end almost touching the face of God. Crawling through the mire heading directly towards life eliminating that which covers up any sense of clarity.

What does it mean to live?

My conclusion is to wake up before my feet touch the ground and thank God for this very day. No matter what is happening, here is today. The cross represents our opportunity to live and it came with great pain.

I have arrived in this deeply spiritual place where the day at hand is exactly what I can do. Of course I can ponder and plan the days ahead. The secret is to move on, plow the field of goals, expect and embrace change. I can look back, learn, write or speak about history and take the gratitude of lessons and learning into the day at hand rather than dwell on what can never be changed. I am in awe of the path forward, the story to come and I won’t know until tomorrow.

Living inside of the day is a really beautiful thing. The other discerning factor to this is that I have choices about my life and how I will live it.

Pain and loss has grown me in ways I never thought possible and that is worth the journey, although I do not ask for more. I expect it. Grief is the ultimate pain of the soul and we must feel it in all of it’s agony.

The glory of wisdom comes after the storm.

There are very few silver linings as you age, but this is the prize. As a grown adult over 60 what do I have to prove anymore?

We can walk away from people in our life that aren’t loving, kind or respectful. We can stay and pray for those relationships to change, be ourselves and continue on with the day at hand. The malady of the young is to walk around everything and everyone and not go directly to the source. Ghosting comes to mind. Our lives are far more complicated when we avoid or talk around those that we struggle with. As we age we need to get over that and if we have something important to say then say it directly or keep it to ourselves.

There is no reputation to save when someone else is creating one for you. You cannot prove your worth when it is not seen. You will never climb over those walls, free to live as yourself. That is cause for unnecessary grief.

The wise guard their hearts. God go before me.

With age, we can clearly lay out what we have to offer and keep walking. Realize that it is not selfish to live your life and purpose and let others live theirs.

I read the most beautiful piece called “Things Worth Remembering” Sunday morning. It was about Austrian poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Duino Elegies.” An intense compilation of poems about angels, salvation and human existence. I found a translation of “I Live My Life In Widening Circles.”

My favorite book of the Bible is Ecclesiastes and it’s message of timeless wisdom. To ponder our existence, to be here is worth a cry. To live for eternity is worth patience with oneself and daily practice.

I Live My Life In Widening Circles

I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but will give myself to it.

I circle around God, around the
primordial tower.
I've been circling for thousands of years
and still don't know:
am I a falcon, a storm, or a great song?

Rainer Maria Rilke

Or am I nothing at all?

The Garden | Shot on Canon 6D