The Chair We All Sit In

I’ve sat in this chair many times in my life.  And even in these days I keep coming back to it.  Not because it’s comfortable, but because it is a part of my life now.

The chair?

The chair of “I don’t have it all figured out yet.” 

I think the journey is an important part of the process, and of figuring things out.  We search, we question, we ponder, we wonder, we ask, we seek, we knock, we read, we ask some more.

Those elements are what make up the chair we all sit in.  Oh, we’re nudged to always seek the end, the result of a thing, after all, that is success, right?

What if … what if we trusted our instincts, trusted our gut.  I think we have a finely tuned brain that works very well.  And in that brain is a mind – conscious and subconscious – that has captured a lot of data from our collective years of living.  Now why would God go to all that trouble to give us a fine and capable mind like that and not want us to trust all the data it has collected during all the years of our living?

I say “trust the data” and we both know there is a lot of stuff in there that simply won’t work, and that is where the chair comes in.

That chair of “I don’t have it all figured out yet” is our resting place, our mulling place.  It is a “sorting chair” to borrow an idea from the Harry Potter series and the “sorting hat”. 

It is perfectly okay not to know.  It is good to wrestle with life, to seek and ponder.  You are in good company if that is where you are at times.

And if you really need to figure something out, something heavy, or big, or life-altering, then go to your chair and sort and review and remember and perhaps the answer will come.

Some sit in this chair and pray, and that is good.

Some sit and read other’s words, and that is good.

Some phone a friend, and that is good.

Some sort through their life and find clues, and that is good.

Welcome your moments in the chair.

See what happens.

This post is based on a quote from Will Farrell at a 2017 USC commencement address.

The full quote:  "For many of you who don't have it all figured out it's okay, that's the same chair that I sat in," he said. "Enjoy the process of your search without succumbing to the pressure of the result. Trust your gut, keep throwing darts at the dart board, don't listen to the critics and you will figure it out."

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Direction and Destination

Some ruminations on direction and destination.

You and I probably have a general idea of the direction in which our lives are going and flowing. 

The big question is this … is it toward a destination that pleases us, excites us, motivates and challenges us?

Is it a fulfilling journey?  Are we useful and are we using some of our better innate skills?

And if the answer is “NO” to some of these questions, what would it take to change that to a “YES”?  And do we even care enough to consider that?

I love this Jim Roan quote.

You can’t change your 

destination overnight.

You can change 

your direction.

Jim Roan

That is a large bite to chew on for today.

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A Small Life

My life must count.  I think we are put here to do some good stuff, perhaps even some extraordinary stuff.  And if that is so, then I don’t want to live a small life.

I intend to live out loud and in living color. 

And I only see a part of all that this philosophy means at the moment.

Mother Theresa is speaking to me in these days. 

So, you begin. I begin.  I picked up one person – maybe if I didn’t pick up that one person I wouldn’t have picked up the others. 

The whole work is only a drop in the ocean.  But if we don’t put the drop in, the ocean would be one drop less.

Same thing for you.  Same thing for your family.  Same thing in the church where you go.  Just begin … one, one, one.

~Works of Love are Works of Peace

My “work”, my calling takes on a different face from Mother Theresa, yet it is “my” calling.  I am a self-professed writer of hope, encouragement and inspiration.  And I think my life is bigger than that. 

First I desired to write.  About what, I had no clue (this was thirty years ago).  That is when I began in earnest to collect books and ideas, thoughts and quotes.  And then later came the blogs and books. 

As Mother Theresa said, “just begin … one, one, one.”

I think that is the secret.  We have our itsy-bitsy lives and our itsy-bitsy agendas and sometimes we may flounder as to where to go and what to do in living them out. 

And fear kicks in and stifles the spark of largeness about which our lives could become.  And we end up drowning in our small, unlived, unfulfilled lives.

And all we needed to do was one small act.  In that act, perhaps we would find the seeds for the next act.

All I know now is this … however small or large my life may be, I intend to live as large as I can.

Mary Oliver says it this way … “I Don’t Want to Live a Small Life.”

  

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