The Long Way Home...

If we were candid, we would admit that we were handed more than we deserve.

Life has been incalculably hard since Debra was torn from my side. I never knew just how much on her I relied. But each day I see how I've lost my way since she's been gone. In fact, I've never felt so idle and alone. It's crazy how daily things appear, which I didn't see when she was here. But they appear nonetheless, and make me face what I never thought I would --the struggle to find a new love.

Doing so is hard because I'm an introvert, except for when I'm doing my work. But if I'm not speaking or teaching, it's hard for me to be outgoing. But I'm going to have to be if I want to be with someone else. Life is too long to live by myself. Plus, Bruce Springsteen was right when he wrote, "Everybody's Got a Hungry Heart." Listening to his music inspires and sparks. But whenever I consider approaching someone, I talk myself out of it. It's not that I lack confidence; I'm just conscious of all that comes with a relationship. 

Plus, I'm seeking someone special. Everyone is, I guess. At least that's what they say before they settle. Nothing's wrong with settling if you can live with it. But doing so makes it hard to live with yourself. At least that's how I felt when I used to settle for failure. But I hated that feeling more than anything else because I expect more of myself. I want more for others also. So, I wouldn't want anyone to settle for me. On the contrary, I want to be as special to them as they are to me. So, I've spent the last two and a half years in neutral gears, parking yet peeking at prospects. 

I also registered with a few dating sights from instinct. But I don't look at them because they don't sync with my soul. I'm not against them; they just aren't for me. So I keep asking God to lead me accordingly, until I find someone compatibly. Meanwhile some days are maddening because of not having anyone to share them with. I'd probably be dead if I didn't have a purpose and a gift. These keep me going when I find myself rowing towards the edge. Still, it's as if I'm taking the long way home.

Your Guess List

 

 

How long is your guess list? Everyone has one, whether they admit it or even know it or not. This list outlines all those things that failed to thrive in our lives, including ourselves routinely, because it’s natural to wonder why things turn out meanly as they do.

Yet rightly used, guess lists are designed to deepen our trust and our ability to understand what truly matters to us. As this becomes clearer, our lists become shorter and our steps surer. Certain things will remain, even as others are added. T

he difference, however, is in our savvy, because so much of what we question and complain about is insignificant once we figure out what truly matters.

 

 

TACKLING TIME

Slow slays haste unawares.

Take your time but not the denials. Learn to wait but refuse to wilt. Scream if you will and curse if you must, resuming afterwards your confidence and trust. The universe is slow but knows how to serve. If not, you can always resign.

SUNGLASSES

Some people wear shades to shield their eyes. Others model to mask their gloom. Yet eyes are never as tender as gloom pretends. We just aren't used to being perturbed. So, we don the lens to project the lie that all is well.

OUR RESPONSIBILITY

"When the heart is hurting God is speaking."

When you encounter abuse how does it make you feel? Do you silently question, wondering if God us real? If so, you've yet to grasp your responsibility because circumstances should not impeach God's existence or limit our compassion. We should ponder rather our relation to Him and to our immediate circle. How much injustice fills this? How aware are we of others struggles? If their plights elude, how can we slander God? If we don't confront what we can, how can we confront what we can't? Our complaints are only valid when we get involved. Otherwise they deceive though they enrage. Yet rage alone fails; only action frees. The responsibility for changing the world rests with us, not with its Author. God created the world, not its abuses.

A MOMENT

Take a moment to take the matter that is most pressing, and apply yourself to discern its lesson. In doing so, barriers drop and opportunities crop unsolicited. This, in part, is how "they did it."

PLEA BARGAINING...

The pining to pursue our dreams is so common that it corrupts. Most are rendered with the rabid, "If I win the lottery..." How can the heart handle such folly? I understand the relief that the idea grants. But I reject the statement it makes about ourselves. Why must we win the lottery to pursue our destiny? What fears must we defeat? Or, are we waiting passively for fortune to favor without changing our behavior accordingly, forfeiting opportunities?

SO MUCH TO DO

We have so much to do and not enough time. This at least is the loser's whine. But those who truly have something to do refuse to let time rule. Instead they do by minutes what others avoid by intention, because instinctively they lack the ambition success requires and diligence describes. Ask the great about how small were the steps they had to take before they triumphed. In failing this pattern, we make ourselves liars concerning our dreams.

ON BEING SEEN

The desire to be seen is so insidious. It makes us say what we shouldn't and act as we wouldn't if we were content with ourselves. www.joelbryant1.com

THE POINT

Missing the point imperils truth.

People have opinions but lack convictions. They discuss virtue but don't practice it. Like ancient sophists, they explore the great questions but don't answer them. Most require a good disaster or a great tragedy to stir. Yet after these pass complacency consumes. Virtue again eludes. Without tragedy some people would never know their capacity for kindness.

ON DESTINY

Destiny is the choice we make about ourselves and our potential. We don't have to know what it is to believe that it is. (www.joelbryant1.com )

FROM ABOVE

Do you know what it's like to be fed from above, to feel without suspicion how deeply you are loved? Do you know the satiety, transcendent temporarily, that bequeaths beyond desert? Or do you still imagine that your degree of having rests upon your merit? If so, you will forfeit this comfort. (http://www.joelbryant1.com/) Also check out the enlightening video: The Legacy of Destiny on http://www.youtube.com/ .

TORN AND TENDER

Paydirt is payback for all the put-downs we endured.

There is a height that invites us to visit. Few, however, are inquisitive. So, they buy postcards and postpone the journey, surrendering to reason's tyranny. Then when others emerge who followed the urge they are the first to cry, "How do these fly!" Yet if how knew the flight's view would be all too common. It isn't, however, because most people ignore the summons. (http://www.joelbryant1.com)

QUIZZES

Our love of leisure damns, labor, change too, unless autonomous.

There is a quiz but no key, academically speaking. Thus the answers like the questions must be created, creative even, for you to pass. Else you will pout implacably.

LIFE

Life proceeds without complaint because it is without compare.

ON TIDES

The tide defeats until we perfect our ability to tread water and our willingness to go after our desire. So many, however, choose to blame oceans (and obstacles) for their emptiness.

PRETEND

So much pretense, so little preference. Yet we are obliged to behave as if we care.

Pretend that this time next week everything will change. Then ask yourelf, "What would you change in preparation." Do this daily though the weeks pass uneventfully. How different would your days be? More important, what would you perceive that now bypasses? If nothing else, you would improve your work by your wait if excellence is your goal. Besides, maybe one day the week will come that changes everything. If not, it won't be because you loitered.

ON EXPECTATIONS

I can't's make icons.

No expectation is great if it doesn't break the heart when delayed, because only those desires that crush us when detained can heal others when delivered.

IN DOUBT

Rightly indifferent, we are never in doubt about our dreams.

Some days pass imperceptibly. We strive to be productive but we are indifferent instead. During which, our minds wander without design or intent no matter how much we lament our waste. Scolding doesn’t help because we are in a web which everyone enters inevitably. Therein we are indifferent even to the lure of destiny. We claim to be fatigued yet we are often relieved because we can only carry so much. Thus nature uses the web to build us up. Then when we exit we have the perspective success requires, provided we are willing to be hired in destiny’s service. If so, our strength returns and we yearn more deeply than previously.

STRENGTH

No one calls to encourage me
My hurts they don’t seem to see
Yet when they are aching
They have no problems taking For granted my willingness to help
I, however, must encourage myself.

Strength is easy to praise and hard to produce, and only comes through adversity, especially for those with a sense of destiny. That’s why it’s important to be patient and forgiving. Otherwise we will accuse others of not caring (though many people don’t). Even then, however, we must keep ourselves lest bitterness invade and defile.