New Meanderings…Golden Treasures in the Quicksand

After many months of contemplating the new direction – or any direction for that matter – of this blog, I’ve decided to simply start writing again. The title of my blog site is “Meanderings, Blogging the Journey” and that’s what I most enjoy doing…just putting my hands on the keyboard and letting them click their way to wherever it is my mind and/or heart meander. At times, hopefully, I will again wander through distant cobblestone streets and write about our travels. For now, until we’re on the road again, I’m just going to let my meandering mind take me wherever it takes me. We’ll see at the end of each meandering if we end up anywhere worth sharing.

So, I’ve done a lot of mind-journeying over the past few months. Wrestled with my usual angsts and quirks, trying – constantly trying – to still the restless sense that I’m not doing enough with my life. I’ve been all over the psychic map on this…I’ve read memes until they’re plaguing my dreams. I’ve sat and prayed, meditated, waiting for light and wisdom to show me what great and wonderful things I’m supposed to be doing with my life these days. Always the same answer. It comes whispering on the wind, through prayer insights – even through uncannily timely emails from people who have no idea I’m wrestling like this. Be still and know…know that all is well and that you are exactly where you’re supposed to be. There’s more, but that’s the essence.

But in amongst the essence, other thoughts wander into the fray…thoughts that I enjoy pursuing to see where they take me. It’s those kinds of meanderings that I enjoy trying to articulate. Such as this one. This one has been teasing at the edge of my mind for awhile now as I sit outside on our new deck, soaking in the warmth of the summer sun, delighting in the beautiful yellow and white butterflies that visit my garden, laughing at the silly pictures that the clouds keep painting across the sky and enjoying the sounds of children laughing at the playground nearby.  It’s nothing radical or earth-shattering, we’ve heard it before, but here it is in my voice. Here is what’s been meandering through my mind out there on my new deck this summer.

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We were not born to be stagnant!

We are not meant to stagnate.

We were born to be totally immersed in life, in the beauty and beaches and butterflies – but also, maybe more-so, in the nitty-gritty muck and mire of day-to-day life. From birth we are born messy! And we just continue to get messier, from the dirt underneath our fingernails to the intricate tangle of unanswered hungers and questions that clutter and sometimes even enslave our minds. That’s how it’s meant to be, I believe – we are born to immerse ourselves in life, to sink up to our chins in that daily quicksand – and then emerge carrying in our hands and hearts the golden nuggets of lessons learned.

We were born to learn important things from what we are tempted to see only as our daily drudgery; we are meant to learn important lessons from the people who challenge and infuriate us, and from within the messes we get ourselves into on the way to doing those great and wonderful things we so desperately want to be doing.

Things like patience, empowerment, courage, learning how strong and capable we really are, learning our limitations, learning how to let go of the things (and people) that are holding us back and perhaps even leaking toxic materials into our bodies and psyches, learning how to establish and nurture healthier mindsets, learning about forgiveness, both for others and for ourselves because after all is said and done, we are all humans trying to muddle our way through.

Messy days can teach us that kindness matters and that compassion bridges many chasms, can bring glimpses of mercy and the value of taking time to understand the wounds and fears that so many of us carry behind our eyes. The drudgery can teach us how to hunt for the treasures along the way…how to open our eyes to see and celebrate beauty in the simplest things – in the garden, in the workplace, in the hearts – and those wounds – of others, and ultimately within our own selves too. Finding beauty in the drudgery and in the messy patches can teach us that there’s always something to be grateful for and keep the eyes of our faith open to seeing the good potential hiding within every situation. Most of all, I believe that ultimately we are learning about love, authentic love – unconditional love – loving others and allowing ourselves to be loved.

I believe that we were born to then take these golden nuggets of learning and share them with others – both the others near and dear to us, and the others who live on the other side of the world from us. Who we are primarily meant to share our hard-won wisdom and learning-honed gifts with is where our purpose lies.

Maybe we are called to share them with our children and life-partners at home. If so, then home is where we are called to be and to serve others.

Maybe we are called to write, paint, cut hair, change bed pans…become doctors, nurses, firefighters, accountants, secretaries, teachers, chefs, ministers…whatever we feel the passion or direction to do or be, that’s precisely where we are meant to share our learnings and gifts, to help others who we meet through our jobs.

Maybe we are called to share them with orphans in Africa or refugees in Syria or struggling families in Cuba…our hearts know…I believe that everyone is given a spark for something, a cause, a place, a passion. Our hearts will be sparked to know where we are meant to take these golden nuggets and apply the lessons learned and share the gifts gleaned from those difficult situations and mucky quicksands we’ve had to trudge through.

The where doesn’t matter right away…that will make itself known when the time is right and we are ready. What matters is that we don’t stay fallen and broken or wallowing in the quicksand. What matters is that we make the conscious choice to search for the golden nuggets that are hiding within each messy situation and seemingly inescapable quicksands of our lives – then pick ourselves up and use those learned lessons to move ourselves forward and to help others along our path who are struggling in their own quicksands of hopelessness, addictions, loneliness, isolation, poverty, hunger, enslavement, illness – the list is endless, and so are the possibilities for helping and serving others with all that we have learned.

Every encounter and event we experience vibrates with knowledge that wants to be discovered, and holds within its grubby depths the rich gems of the wisdom and skills we need for the next encounter and situation, and ultimately holds everything we need to help and serve others.

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Copyright © Sharon C. Matthies, Meanderings (blog), 2015. All rights reserved.
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