Life, explained (4)

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

Part 3 is here.

When we left off, we had just begun to gain some ground in bossing around all these really big people. Now comes some serious miscommunication: they actually think they are in charge.

After a couple of years of this going on, we finally give up and let them keep their delusion of control. It's just not worth it to continue trying to straighten them out, as they clearly are too far from Home to remember.

As we begin to grow and learn more about this crazy game we have joined here on Earth, we become more and more like the giants. Over some years, we even begin to look more like them, growing larger and larger ourselves.

For many of us, there comes a time in our lives when we decide it would be fun to be the giants in the room which belongs to a little tiny new one. So, we get together with another person and create the Earth suit which another Spirit comes to live within.

This is a miraculous time, both because we are reminded of when we were so little and because we now have a great responsibility and a constant source of amazement living in our own homes.

We spend all of our energy and most of our resources caring for our offspring, teaching them all about how life works, and loving our time watching them grow.

Just about the time that they are moving out and starting their own independent lives, we begin a new part of the game. In fact, it is the time when, if we choose, we can recall the game. Not completely, at least not for most of us, but enough to wonder what we were thinking all of those years between giving up trying to direct the actions of the giants and watching our own children leave the nest.

In learning that we came here from Home, that we are here to love and laugh and enjoy the company of others, our focus shifts. Now, we don't seek to win the game. We seek, instead, to love the game.

What we come to see is that the game offers a rich environment within which we can discover an infinite number of ways Love expresses itself. Our instinctive response is to want to know more about Love. Where does it come from? Where does it go when it has passed through us?

Now, rather than competing in the game, we are becoming smiling observers. Because no one is not a participant, we are still in the game, even as we are outside it enjoying how others are playing.

We feel a great urge to share our new-found perspective with others. In some cases, our sharing is accepted and folks come to grasp a bit of what it is like for us now. In other cases, our sharing is thought of as the ramblings of old people.

Both conclusions are right.

Stay tuned...there's more.

Life, explained (3)

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

While the explanation is kept to the simplest of terms and avoids many of the complications which we all live through, it is important to grasp the elements from which the complexity is created. Only by grokking the building blocks can you begin to comprehend the delightfully rich stuff which life brings our way.

Let's keep playing.

Games we learn as children, at least most of them, are games which are designed to have a definitive end and a winner of the game when it ends.

Life is not like that.

Sure, there are competitions we cook up in our lives which are exactly the same finite games of our childhood. I'm a big fan of some of them and participate in some. Here's a silly thing I have noticed: even when we all acknowledge that it is a game which is going on, there are still people who act as if it is a cause for seriousness.

The point is, there are people who will not get what I am talking about here. That's perfectly okay, don't get me wrong. I'm not seeking to convert anyone from taking everything about life with a concentrated look on their faces and an intensity in their eyes, to something more akin to how I now seek to live. That's their choice, and bless them on their path.

For anyone reading who has been made curious, what follows is a meandering description of the game which began before our births and will continue on for an undetermined period after our Earth suits have been discarded.

We start together, so "together" that there is only Me. Through some process I am not able to describe, we each, even as still being Me, plan a visit away from the collective energy which is Me. It is a means by which we can love even more than we do already.

Once the plan is complete, we leave Me and head to Earth. We arrive at some point before we are born and begin to breathe (I'll leave the exact details of when we arrive to the attorneys and folks who can tell you exactly how many angels can dance on the head of a pin). To make things even more interesting and to insure our own total involvement, we allow ourselves to forget where we were before we came to inhabit this little 20-inch-long Earth suit.

The giants in the room are in charge, that much is obvious. They don't feed us or remove our soiled garments unless we scream at them. It is very frustrating, these not-very-attentive giants. They either forget to change our clothes, or they are in our faces making funny noises while we are simply trying to sleep. It is clear they don't understand us.

Over time, we are able to communicate with the giants and, at least sometimes, get what we need from them. While they are still only partially cooperative, they are easier to direct once we can speak their language.

This is when things really get screwy.

See more of the tale in the next post. Tomorrow, maybe.

Life, explained (2)

(if you just stumbled upon this post and have not read the first half of the topic, please read it first--it was published on March 7th and is the post immediately preceding this one chronologically)

Because we have these big organs inside our heads which provide a high-bandwidth flow of information about where we are and what our surroundings indicate, we can choose. That's my motivation in writing today, to remind anyone stopping by that we can choose. For anyone stuck in a feedback loop which is saying to them, over and over, that they are no good and will never acquire the stuff which will make them happy, here is an alternative song to stick in your head in place of that one.

We are infinite beings experiencing life as organisms on a spinning ball of dirt and water. Nothing is beyond our reach, yet we have chosen deliberately to focus on the experiences on this little ball, wearing these silly flesh-and-blood suits which hide our real and glorious selves. So, that was choice number one, a choice we made early enough that most of us cannot recall it: we chose to limit ourselves to what we can do while wearing Earth suits.

Choice number two was to allow ourselves to become so engrossed in the game that we completely forgot who we are. It adds to the intensity of the game, having made this choice, but after awhile, it also adds to the frustration level and can breed dissatisfaction.

This brings us to choice number three. We can choose to remember that we chose to be here and chose our limitations. As with any choice, there are outcomes we would prefer and outcomes we would not. My own preference is to know that life is a game not so that I can opt out, but so that I can enjoy it more. My own simple melody which repeats in my head and which I can hear if I slow down and become quiet is one of Love.

The thing is, Love is all there really is. Why we are able to avoid knowing this all the time, first thought in the morning and last one before sleeping, is inexplicable and crazy. I don't try to explain how we can avoid Love. I embrace it and allow the mystery to remain.

We come from Love. We live in a universe created from Love and pulsing Love and accepting Love.

Okay. Time for one last review.

Life is a game. Happiness is an innate part of us and of the game, and yet we can turn from it. It is possible to spot this turning away, and choose to turn back toward who we really are and enjoy the game even more. Love is the name of the path that we walk as we play the game. Love is the name of the breath we take. Love is the source, the flow, and the destination.

Can you come out and play?

Life, explained (My Sacred Life, Sunday)

Life. It's a game, isn't it? Or, to be a bit more specific, it's a game which involves folks who know they are playing a game, and folks who don't.

This sets up all manner of difficulty. Those who take life with deadly seriousness are not easy to get along with if you are one who knows we are here to have fun.

It's even a bit more complicated than that because even if you are one who recognizes the fun which life is meant to entail, you will forget from time to time. Those difficulties I mentioned? They take roost inside you when you forget. You have internal struggles between what you know to be true and what you think once you forget what you know.

When you are having those internal struggles, you will draw to you more of those folks who find life a terrible fight which must be won, and won by defeating others or defeating crises or...well, life.

Interestingly, in those quieter moments when you are fully present with your knowing, when you realize who you are, at least in the sense of knowing you have a place where you fit in this universe, you will discover more people around you who are also aware and at peace.

It's a clue, and a consistently solid one: what we see is a reflection of what we are feeling. So, if you are particularly frustrated by coworkers or fellow drivers on your commute or the long lines at the store, you are likely to see that frustration in the eyes of those around you. You are going to see traffic moving in fits and starts and those lines move even more slowly than you thought possible.

Let's recap.

In this life, being happy is facilitated by knowing that this is the Happiness Game. We draw to us people who feel similar feelings to what we are feeling and experiences which reinforce how we are feeling.

For many, I have just introduced another potential miscommunication spot. Happiness as I speak of it has nothing at all to do with stuff or prestige. Sure, stuff can be fun and prestige may get one a table when the restaurant is seemingly full, but neither are at the core of this.

Happiness is more about contentment, having a predisposition toward smiling and laughing, acknowledging the beauty and miraculousness of all that is, just as it is.

Another key attribute of our game: we don't play to win. We play for the sheer enjoyment that playing offers. For an elegantly simple explanation, read Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse.

Let's pause here for a day. I'll post the remaining portion of this tomorrow morning.

Come home, my love

Goodness gracious, I miss my wife. She will not be home until next year.

Okay...her scheduled arrival here in Denver is now just a bit more than a week away, but it is still next year!

We have been together, almost as two parts of a single entity, for more than 12 years. While we have had brief separations lasting as long as a week or so, we have never been apart as long as we have been this time.

My longing is deep and strong. My tears are real, my desire for her lovely face in my sight almost unbearable.

And, I know I can make it another eight days. It's not like there are options at this point, and my specialty has always been to get through whatever was between me and where I was supposed to be. I'm supposed to be hugging my Julia at the airport.

It will be a really, really, really long time before I accept my wife going away for as long as three weeks again. It will be a long time before I let go of her when I finally get to hug her at the airport. She will laugh, and I'll finally let go with a sheepish grin on my face.

Life is meant to cradle in its gentle arms love such as this, and I know exactly how lucky I am. There is nothing I can wish for you, you who stop by to see what I had to say today, which would be greater or richer or more rewarding than to know this kind of love. Open your heart to it.

Eight more days.

Life is what we choose it to be

For those of you stopping by for the first time or who are not recalling recent tales in this little internet niche where I hold forth, I was laid off from my job shortly before Thanksgiving. It was not just a job, but roughly half a career, since I had been with the company for more than twenty years.

For those of you with any sort of computing background, we're talking from early versions of DOS to Windows Vista, from a company with two computers to a company with thousands of computers...no network at all to a wide-area network which spans the country.

I have learned, these past weeks as I gathered myself to begin the next phase of my working life, that there is a great deal to learn in being laid off, and perhaps even more when one is laid off after a two-decade dedication to one employer.

Sure, there are all the negative and angry thoughts which pass through ones mind, and those have to be addressed if you seek to move forward.

There are the friendships which may well be lost once the friends are no longer close by. For me, this was where I knew I would need help in adjusting. Thankfully, I have friends who are willing to get together once in awhile so we can maintain a connection.

So, now that I am reaching that point where I will be deciding how to pay my way in the world--and it is important to note that I have no preconceived notions that it will necessarily be a computer-related job, or a job at all (consulting and contracting are possibilities, too)--it is a good moment to pause and consider.

For years, I have made decisions which first took into consideration my job. When you have a career with one company, it is a natural way of operating.

Now, though, I am in the oddly freeing situation where I need not consider my job simply because I don't have one.

What will I create in my life next?

My choice. It is easy to imagine this as either terrifying or completely invigorating. I'm pretty sure I'm enjoying a crazy mixture of both.

Regardless of the outcome, I'll continue to report on the ever-changing circumstances.

Today, for my life, I choose free flight, open arms, and loving whatever comes.

Life is about exiting your comfort zone

This is Patti Digh's week here at Hamguin's, although today may be more-accurately labeled my bragging day.

Still, Life is a Verb, Patti's powerful new book on living an intentional life, is part of the story.

Not long before Thanksgiving last year, Patti put out the call on her blog for volunteers who wished to participate in the illustrating of her book. Initially, it was thought to be a case where 37 works of art would be chosen, one for each of the 37 essays to be included in the book.

Once the publisher saw the accumulated art--something like 125 separate works--they made the wise decision to change their production of Life is a Verb to color throughout, using high-quality, coated paper and four-color production techniques to honor the artwork and add to the visual appeal of the book.

This is where I come in. I had volunteered to help only because Patti said, over and over, that everyone was invited, not just those who were avowed artists. My last serious art work was done in first grade, when the teacher said my daisies showed great promise. I figured that was reason enough to consider myself qualified. Plus, it was all I had.

To be honest, I considered reneging a number of times over the few days between the time Patti gave me my assigned essay to illustrate and the morning I emailed the completed work to her. My area of greatest comfort has been, for as long as I can remember, my ability to do some things very well. So, I stuck to those things and excelled. This challenge, this crazy volunteering to create something from thin air, was far enough outside my comfort zone that it was a long-distance call to check back with myself.

On November 20th, Patti assigned me to illustrate Dance in your car. It was the perfect one for me, and the truth of the lesson I needed to learn was right there in my face the entire time I worked on the illustration: stop judging, start dancing!

On November 25th, I sent Patti the illustration you see below. I am proud to say you can also see it in LIAV on page 16. Here is part of what I said to her in the email message which included the illustration:

Over the last few days, I spent far more time imagining what I wanted my primitive card to look like than I did executing it. Most of what you see came to me in those twilight times of consciousness between waking and sleeping. I'm happy with the ideas, and I'm horribly embarrassed by my execution of them.

Now, stepping out of my pants (seriously, that's what it feels like to me...and, for the record, I don't make a habit of stepping out of my pants except when dictated by showers and stuff), I give you "Dance in your car."

I knew that she had lots of people contributing, so I had no worries that she would feel forced to use my work.

Imagine my surprise and semi-shocked glee when I learned some months later that the publisher had decided to use all the art! Mine may not have been nearly as cool as lots of the other art, but mine was definitely one which had to be included when they decided to use it all. I mean, all is all, right? Even this one??



Patti was kind enough to remind me, on the day I submitted this, that I was offering judgment on a work which was illustrating an essay on giving up judging so you might, instead, free yourself from those silly restrictions judging imposes. Do so, and it is possible to dance in your car with no hesitation or embarrassment.

Like I said, it was the perfect essay for this now-published artist. Don't worry--I'm not planning any big future for myself as an artist. After all, I am one-for-one: one work done, one work published. I can't improve on that percentage. My grin is still almost as wide as it was the first time I opened Life is a Verb to page 16, I have to admit.

Life is transitory, illusory, tragic, and beautiful

What strikes me clearly as I have been dipping in and out of Patti Digh's new book (she personally authorized this technique for all readers of the book, so I am not committing any author-proscribed sin, here) is the frequency with which Patti is able to touch the heart of so many aspects of life. In a post on 37days two years ago, it is not just one life, one family, or even one community who is touched when Patti celebrates the life and mourns the passing of a young lady, to offer one poignant example. Patti did not know her, yet we all did as we learned of her passing and of her life, thanks to Patti. It is all of us who can feel the loss, as we all, by the time we reach a certain number of decades passed on the planet, have seen this kind of tragedy. We all know that referred pain which one feels when another family suffers this way.

Patti is also a master at painting the scene where those involved learn from the tragedy, grow from it, come at some later date to honor it as a tremendous teaching opportunity for their own souls and for the souls of those they love. She has been witness to, and central character in, a number of life events which would challenge the strongest of us. Patti never has claimed to be the strongest of us, yet here she is, smiling, loving, offering to all who she comes to know, the grace that she has come to possess.

How does she do it?

I don't know, but I have a theory, and Patti is welcome to tell us what she thinks of this theory. I believe that Patti taps into a source of infinite love which is available to us all. Let's face it: we have each experienced the seeming-miracle of stepping outside our little selves to offer forgiveness in the face of unspeakable affront. Only a couple of weeks ago, I read just such a tale, where a young man behind the wheel had caused the deaths of several of his classmates. It was not a case open to debate, as he had clearly been at fault and acknowledged it.

When the dad of one of the dead young men met with him, they both cried as they discussed the event, and they hugged. It was a horrible thing which happened to both of them; they shared the tragedy, even though one was unintended instigator, and the other suffered the loss of a son. The father never hesitated in his support of the young man who caused the death of his own son.

That's the kind of grace which is inside us all. Patti tugs at it by gently revealing it to us in her stories. It is a grace we all need to find a way to open ourselves to, as life's transitory nature will allow us all personal tragedy to endure first, then learn from and, finally, come to place in the story of our own lives.

Patti knows the way of illusion and can call us all on it. She first calls herself to the task of letting go those things which don't merit more than passing interest, and finding, instead, the parts of our lives which are worthy of remembrance. Many times, she finds those moments in the most-mundane areas. The critical difference is that defined by the illusory images of one's ego, and the real, honest, person-to-person contact we can only arrive at with the jointly agreed-to, if unacknowledged consciously, abandonment of the egos which were in the way.

She says that the shortest distance between two people is story. The beauty she reveals in her stories is not something she would claim, as much as claim to have found begging to be revealed. Her modesty is so heartfelt that I cannot imagine anyone questioning it. Just the opposite, in fact: it is my joy to see such a person who I know only through her writing and our exchanges of email messages who is a shining light, yet one who seldom seems to be aware of it.

And, finally, Patti's secret is now mine to disclose: she is a shining light who shines not on herself, but on all the regular people with the unremarkable lives--or, so they all might confess--who, through the golden, gentle light Patti shines on them, come to see their own magic, their own special and unique nature. I don't claim Patti to be a saint or a hero. She is, though, one who can see the saint and the hero in others. And, she writes with such transparency that one becomes emotionally involved with the person who is the subject of the story as much as with the teller of the tale.

Patti tells many tales about her own life, her own family, and her own desires (a few of which involve neither Johnny Depp or Billy Collins). She tells her own stories with the same grace and gentleness offered to all the characters in the story as she does the stories she tells of other lives. Only the hint of self-deprecation clues one in that this is a story of Patti, not of an unknown hero we are about to learn to love.

For all of us who have come to love our time at 37days and, now, our enthralling adventures in the pages of Life is a Verb, none of what I have said in this brief description of Patti Digh will be a surprise. Many would have added more of their own favorite examples of Patti's stories, be they about Patti or about others. "You should have mentioned the stories about her dad!" or "How could you not talk about her challenges to her readers to bring more to their lives by acting on her suggestions at the end of each essay?"

Look at it this way: all of you who find that I left out your favorite part about Patti or 37days or Life is a Verb, consider it my gift to you, as you can now write your own impressions about Patti and tack them up on your own front porch where everyone can see them. Please let me know when you do, as I have found Patti to be a real gather-round-the-topic kind of person to discuss, or perhaps I should say, person's writing to discuss. I'd love to read other's opinions!

All these aspects of Patti I know, all of them garnered only from reading, emailing, and a couple of short conversations, are enough that I proclaim this lady a good friend, although we have yet to shake hands and smile the smile, the eye-to-eye, soul-connecting smile, of knowing each other at a level far beyond simple, face-to-face meeting. That opportunity will take place less than a week from now, and I have already warned Patti that I won't be planning to shake hands. In words my grandmother uttered many times as she spoke to me on the phone before I was next to visit her, I'll be huggin' her neck.

Then, we will get down to the business, the seriously fun business, of learning together at her retreat. It is my first event of this type ever, so I hope all the veteran retreat-attendees are gentle with me. I'm pretty sure I can count on Patti's forbearance.

[editor's note: please visit again tomorrow to see Patti's contribution to this little blog. I'm delighted to have her stop by]

Life is freedom of expression

My wonderful wife, Julia, has written a great deal about what she terms the "qualities of origin," by which she means those aspects of ourselves we all possess the day we are born.

As one might guess, those qualities are often sublimated to the demands of a world which fails to acknowledge or value such things as play, dance, singing loudly, or marching to the beat of an unseen drummer.

The need we all have to freely express what we are feeling is one of those qualities -- free expression -- which Julia teaches about. We knew how to do this at first, and we have slowly learned the limitations imposed by the society in which we have grown up.

What I'm addressing today is that aspect of free expression which we can all claim, societal limitations be ignored, and those areas where free expression really is, justifiably, limited. There's a difference.

For those things you believe, you are entitled (according to me, and I know I only get to decide for me...this is merely my take on it) to offer up as loudly as you like in whatever forum you can find that you believe thus and such.

It is important to be willing to admit that you are fomenting your beliefs. As soon as you attribute your beliefs to something else such as God or Truth or The American Way of Life or any other Capitalized Bloviation, you have crossed the line I have established for myself. And, since I find my line a reasonable one, I offer it to anyone reading. You will never hear me claim to be a purveyer of Truth. Despite any illusions I may have in that area, I don't claim them publically. I only claim it is me, expressing what I believe.

Here's the thing: as soon as you begin to portray your beliefs as something more than just that, you are in danger of impinging on the free range of your neighbor, who has every bit as much right to freely express her opinion.

And, another thought you might find illustrative: when we offer up opinions which are hateful or hurtful to others, it makes about as much sense as saying, "It is my right to break off my own arm right here at the elbow, and you have no power to stop me!!"

Quite true.

Consider, though, that we are all on this mighty vessel known as Earth together. We are all one in the singular desire to see her thrive. Even more broadly, we are all one in the eyes of the universe, because no part of it is not. Thus, the 'tearing off my arm' analogy: when you hurt another, you do equal or greater damage to yourself. Are you free to do so? Yes. And, it is not a life-enhancing move, meaning the universe will tend toward your removal from the game even if it takes decades for the removal to occur. If you buy that ticket, you will take the ride. It's just a matter of when.

That's the end of the sermon on 'be nice, or we will be forced to allow your destruction.'

The great joy for me is that, after the lecture, we are still left with dancing (even in your car), singing at the top of our lungs even if not in key, skipping to a tune we hear only in our heads, and laughing in a way which causes our sides to ache and our cheeks to hurt from the exertion.

We can worship whatever entity we like, mate with whomever is willing, raise our kids to be better than we are (remember, they are our future caretakers--respect them now and avoid the rush later) and discover unanticipated talents we missed back when we were hiding ourselves behind society's limits.

You see, there is so much to love about life that I find it incredible how many people insist on being stuck in a self-created rut of delusion about their own limitations. Don't get me wrong! If you wish to be stuck, you are free to be as stuck as you can be. What you cannot do, though, is force me to join you or to be ashamed for failing to join you.

At the same time, I offer to anyone reading the chance to dance, sing, prance, fling your hat in the air, skip, walk like an elephant, pretend you can fly, play tag with the waves as you walk along the beach, make crazy faces, tickle your children (or your parents), buy ice cream, suffer the loss of a friend, die a little for the departure of a love, bounce on a trampoline, sleep in for no reason, eat more than you know you should because you know you can and that last little bit of dinner is calling your name, smell the air as if you have never whiffed anything like it, ever, call someone you have not talked to in ages not because you have any news, but because you love them and miss them, hug someone you barely know, hug everyone you do know, hug folks for no better reason than they don't appear to be armed, cry readily, smile as your default facial expression, and love anyone and anything who will stand still for it.

Then, do it again when you wake up tomorrow.

Life is forever forgiving

Sometimes, we reach the mistaken conclusion that all is against us, everyone is our competition instead of our friend, and that only hard work offers even the slightest glimmer of hope for our survival. In fact, not just hard work, but sweaty, difficult, dirty hard work.

Oh, silly us!

Life, my friends, is always ready to offer support and solace. Our own error in failing to be open to that healing energy is one we can overcome quite easily. It is a mistake in understanding, one of projecting our own misguided expectations onto the world itself, expectations we create and which get in our way.

We have lots of choices open to us, the various ways we can progress through our lives: there is the aforementioned difficult path, as an example, and another way which involves accepting what is and buying into the flow.

The focus, today, is on the way of trusting the flow of your own life. Not only is this a path which offers the support of the Universe, it is also the way to finding the joy in becoming vulnerable and open-armed.

That difficult path mentioned before may include protecting, defending, growing a big, thick paranoiac skin.

The 'leaf in the flowing river' path, alternatively, offers complete openness to the adventure at hand, an open heart to the passersby one meets, and an innocent air which none can find anything but inviting.

It is, though, always our choice. Thankfully, even spending most of one's life on that difficult path is no impediment to changing to the way of ease. Life, it turns out, is willing to allow us to change at any time, as often as we decide to change. In fact, there is no penalty for late decisions--if you are breathing, you still have the right to choose, right now.

While there are consequences which are inevitable as a result of our choices, there is no end to the forgiveness Life offers us. Once weary of the path which seems to contain nothing but trouble along the way, we can instantly switch to a different path, with different traits and challenges. There are as many paths as there are thoughts in your head, so don't be concerned about any limit to the variety.

When you get tired of fighting your way through, I'll be there on the flow-of-Life path waiting for you. I'll supply the refreshing beverage, too.

Life is not a sprint

Life, be it long or short, is a rich mixture of all the stuff which comes our way or we seek to chase. The fact that it is this mixture, this sum of what we would think of as 'good' or 'bad', makes life more like a long-distance event than a sprint, a very important aspect of our lives that many of us do not grasp.

For those of you who are parents, you can easily recall the immediate reaction of an offspring who, at 11 or 12, is told they cannot have what they want, or go where they wanted to go. Their world has just ended, and they cannot possibly carry on! This is the "my life is over" reaction which tends to diminish as one accumulates more scars along life's path, yet continues on.

That's the lesson, then: when you are battered and beaten and feel you cannot go on, remember that there is always the opportunity to get back up and move forward. Maybe you need a rest first, or time to mourn, or some healing energy from friends and loved ones. In a way, just the willingness to suffer the feelings you may be dealing with is the symbolic first step.

It is perhaps the most amazing characteristic of people I know, this undying will to return to the game, so to speak. I have a yellowed newspaper article taped to the back of my office door which describes the life of a man who had been killed crossing the street only a mile or so from where I live. As a young man he had been in several serious accidents, usually involving a sport and typically what people call "freak accidents" which resulted in emergency trips to the hospital. Finally, as a college student, he was in a bad car accident which left him with severe brain damage.

He recovered enough to regain his self-confidence and good humor, and then over a period of years, had his back broken three different times as a result of accidents. He broke ribs also in a fall he took. No longer able to work, he was still self-sufficient. He still walked, though it took him 30 minutes to walk half a block. Even so badly disabled, he walked every day, always with a cane as he eschewed a walker or wheelchair.

Finally, that fateful day two years ago, he stepped off a curb into the path of a vehicle which ended his life. When he died, he was the same age I am today.

Having had some of those chances myself--times when I was knocked flat yet got back up--I would hesitate to say it gets any easier, getting back up after being knocked off your feet by life. What I have seen, though, is a growing familiarity with the challenge, a recognition of my own tenacity and will. All I have to do is think of Tom Cook, the man who, over his 54 years of life, managed to refuse God's call to come home over and over again before finally giving in.

Sooner rather than later, you know you will go on, and you will be okay.

Life is not a pass/fail course

Unlike some of the classes you may have taken in high school or college, life is not one which will let you skate. We are all graded on a daily basis, and we cannot appeal or do extra credit to retroactively change those grades. It can be frustrating, in fact, to discover that we often cannot learn what grade we got on a test until we realize we are taking the same one again!

The good news--or maybe the bad news, depending upon how you think about it--is that you can take the same test again. And again. In fact, you can take the same test every day from now until your stay here is up.

It turns out that life is designed this way because it gives everyone as many chances as they need. And, it also provides new challenges for those who pass the early tests quickly.

So, if you wish to learn every nuance of a particular experience, to grow by probing every little niche of the test, you can do so. There is no graduation ceremony which you may miss, so keep going over and over it if that's what you need right now.

Others of us who are here now to be the trail blazers will be hitting warp speed as they press on through lesson after lesson. That's okay, too. In fact, they may make a habit of stopping by, cruising through a whole bunch of life in a relatively short period, and then leaving as quickly as they came. They are here to show us the way, not necessarily to become experts at any of it.

Here's the bottom line: we are all here to do exactly what we feel the desire to do. There are billions beyond billions of roles to be filled, and only each of us, as individuals, can best serve in the role we are in. We are each important, unique, and irreplaceable.

[It is likely that this is the first in a new series, but since there is only one post so far, I'm not committing. We'll see!]