The solar-powered streetlamp silently highlighted the challenge with modern solutions. As important and imposing as they might seem, in the context of nature, reflection, and the endless sky, I often wonder if I understand life’s truths. My reflection is not about opportunities to hear and know. Quite the contrary; as an old writer reminds me, there have “been plenty of opportunities for Israel to listen and understand what’s going on? Plenty, I’d say. Preachers’ voices have gone ‘round the world, Their message to earth’s seven seas.” (Romans 10.18) In a day where I have been flooded with sounds, images, messages, facts, and figures, I am not sure what I really understand.
Every day is filled with opportunities to increase one’s understanding. My writings reflect one man’s attempt to listen and understand. With the choir of voices and orchestra of experiences flooding my senses, it is only in being intentionally open to Divinity’s agenda that I have a chance to hear what Divinity has to say. The opportunities are here. The path to being a better man begins with listening to Divinity’s voice, touch, and revelations.
Priorities and values filter what one understands. Frequently, I catch myself predetermining what is important. Inevitably the awareness of what I am missing comes up as the opportunity is slipping away. When I start with a spirit of openness and possibility, wonder and insight often follow. It is in the simple, often quiet, and frequently off the radar of those present, that I find Divinity talking the loudest. She is insistent. She is determined. She is patient. I control the doorway through which She must pass if the moment is to be more than I expect.
Experiencing the present comes best when one has let go of what was and might be. This is, at least for me, harder than it might seem. I do find that when I embrace the moment without reservation, my awareness gives birth to understanding and change within. Each moment can create new growth. In the present is a door to even greater possibilities. Carpe diem!
