With my continuously increasing percentage of gray hair comes opportunities to give and share advice. Most of the time, it is easy to be measured and thoughtful. Questions like timing, appropriateness, and practicality are on my mind. Even if the advice is not useful, the intent is positive.
There is a catch. After decades of experiences, mistakes, and the occasional success, the foundation for learning is well established. Using these lessons as the source for my advice creates the potential of usefulness. However, I often catch myself not listening or using it. Rhetorically, what then?
In the patient yet relentless cycle of life, there are several reminders.
In a personal spiral of the negative, pause. I know it sounds simple. It usually is not, Mustering the courage to apply the brakes with whatever one is doing often consumes whatever is left within. Life whispers a simple, “really, is this you?” and fades to silence. When I pause, look in the mirror and consider everything I see within myself and beyond, the answer is “no”. A pause is an intentional act of creating space and opportunity to make a difference, if only for and to oneself.
Never think impossible tasks will be easy. One can argue with the premise, however in the middle of an impossible mission one can forget the “why”. A pause will create space for the first reminder, this was an impossible task. Anything achieved is a positive step forward, so push on! The course may be long, the barriers high, and the obstacles overwhelming. These are the usual ingredients to impossible tasks, so let the surprise pass and remind oneself that this is what it means to be in the heart of something monumental.
Let old words guide you. As they replay in my mind, “So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course,” (James 1.16) I hear endure, focus, strive. It is in the journey that one finds the heart of living.
We are on an impossible mission – to live out care, kindness, and compassion in every choice and action.
