as I set in the UVU library,...... a month ago,..... with my brain smoking... I looked out the window and watched the sun set. it was a good one. what I like about a sensory experience like sunsets and really cool walks in the mountains, and even stuff like a jujitsu match (when i was young enough to do that) or a computer game of tetris, is that for a few moments my senses and intellect and spirit are focused on one thing.
The colors, the shadows, the details, and the generalities, of this one thing that I experience, for even a few moments allow me to unfocus on everything else, for that same few moments.
In that few moments I am able to rest.
So I decided to write down some of these things that give me rest from the intensity that seems to follow me in all that I do.
One of my study partners saw my growing list and asked me if I was creating a
"best things in life" list.
he isn't LDS and and thought it was a Mormon thing, I explained what I was doing and as we talked about it, I expanded my criteria and he told me a few things that would be on his list. and the list grew further when I asked a few people randomly, to finish the sentence. "The best thing in life is..."
The following is from that list, so far ten people have contributed.
The criteria is this "Name one good thing that you love to see, or do, or know about, or participate in, that fills your mind and soul. ........finish the sentence ""The best thing in life is....""."
Going for a walk with my children....
Talking with my wife...
Watching a newly engaged couple treat each other like a precious treasure....
Watching an elderly couple treat each other like a precious treasure....
Listening to great music late at night in a comfortable chair.
A song that "takes you back when."
Serving God without reservation.
Sacrament meeting.
Creating something.
Learning something.
SUNBEAM BUG HUNT!!!!
Father's and son's outings.
Fresh snow and a springer spaniel....-that was mine-
Home teaching a widow.
Building something really well.
A football game where both teams play to their potential,
nobody gets hurt, it is close all the way through,
and your team wins in the end.
Fresh air after a storm.
Sleeping in your own bed after a long trip.
Playing baseball with Friends in the spring.
Going to church with your parents.
whats on your list?
The hour in the morning before you need to wake up and just after you stop dreaming and find a warm puppy by your feet and a sweet husband by your side. :)
ReplyDeleteWords and the worlds within them. Or as "Brother" Maclean put it in "A River Runs Through It":
ReplyDelete"It is those we live with and love and should know that elude us.
Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them.
Of course, I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn't. Like many fly fisherman in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades into a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters."
[Insert favorite cuss word here]
Holding a fresh baby. Joy beyond measure.
ReplyDeleteSunday dinner when my children are all mine again.
ReplyDeleteA long fall ride in the mountains
Primary children singing I feel my Saviors love
Date night holding hands