I’ve come to realize that life is a series of chapters. When we are born someone takes care of our physical needs and gives us an education to help us start life hopefully in a good direction. This is ideally the first 18 years or chapter 1. We move to chapter 2 trying to get approval from our parents and family and friends about the path we are choosing. The next chapter, chapter 3, is hopefully a job to support ourselves. There are people along the way some good and others who are not so good. Some of those same people who come from our childhood follow relentlessly for years. The early years didn’t teach us about boundaries so we learn those as we go. When we are beginning adulthood friends come in the form of workmates, minor interest such as bowling leagues, church functions and in my case dog training and dog shows.
These people sometimes become friends or acquaintances. Both can be good for you but some breeze in and out becoming annoying. Those who become annoying just move out of your life giving you a fresh slate of friends to choose from. If you go to college you have those who think they are superior over you and those who are just doing their best to come up with something to give their life meaning. My husband came out of my love for dogs and going to dog shows. Besides my husband I don’t have many leftover from my yesterdays. I can say out of my friends my dogs have been the more reliable and trustworthy. I’ve had people to lead me to numerous churches trying to say theirs is the only way, when the fact is only Jesus is the way and if I follow Him I’m going down the right way. Each group of friends have their good intentions but what they really want is companionship along the way. So it’s like Jesus said you may be a blind person being lead by a sight impaired person. I have been, Methodist, a tiny bit Catholic, non-denominational, Pentecostal, Lutheran and now I cling to Messianic beliefs. God has so much to teach, we should just sit back in His classroom and learn the lessons. When I said chapters I don’t want to leave God out of my book. I did not jump from job to job. I was a loyal employee sticking it out. The shortest was 4 months and the longest 20 years. I took my life to the west coast for a period of 2-3 years. The point here is life has chapters and it’s like a book. You have a preface and a forward and when you think it through you know you have a dedication to someone in it. I’m retired now and already have found new friends worth saving into my older years. What came from my past chapters are people I value and love. What is significant is that I didn’t stay in one chapter. I grew from them and made good choices from what I experienced. What I see is others being stuck in past chapters not learning the lessons they held for them. Surely, they learned something?
If you hold resentment it sticks to you like glue. Let those things that have held you prisoner go. Find your talent, worship your God the best you know how and be grateful for where you have come from. Faith is the substance of what is hoped for and what you see may come from your retirement age. Take the record of your life and put it into a reflective book so your life shows you that life was filled in a series of joys.
4 Comments
2 more comments...No posts
Good to see you back at writing your newsletter !!
Great thoughts! I like the idea of a book with chapters as stages of our lives.