Thoughts

    If you live in a large city you may have to do some travelling to get to a location where the city lights don’t blot out the beauty of the night sky and all its glory. If you are in a more rural area it might not be as much of a chore to get this done.  But in either case I’d like for you to think about doing this.  Get out where there is quiet and you can ponder the beauty of the night sky.

     As you do this, think about the following questions.  How did all these “sparkles” of light get placed there in the sky?  How are they able to exist hanging upon nothing in the vastness of space?  What great architect designed the patterns that you see as you gaze upward, knowing that you are looking into so vast a distance that it has to be measured in light years (the distance light would travel in one year at an approximate speed of ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY SIX THOUSAND MILES PER SECOND!)  Who could precisely place all these things in their respective places and not have a total catastrophe taking place?  We can’t truly begin to understand the scope of the stars in the heavens!

     And yet we can turn one hundred eighty degrees in the opposite direction and look at how unbelievable small things are!  With all we continue to learn many of the small organisms still baffle us in their operations. Just consider taking a flu shot every year and they are only guessing as to what strains will probably cause the most troubles during that season.  Or maybe it’s trying to understand how the microbes have been resistant to treatments and they must hurriedly try to find a new vaccine.

     All this brings to my mind a little story I heard a long time ago.  I don’t exactly recall all the details, but it certainly made the point about our human obsessions to be something we’re not.  Or our trying to improve ourselves instead of being content the way we are.  It goes something like this:

     In an ancient Chinese village there lived a man of meager means.  Every day he and several others would walk to the mountain outside their village and “chip” away at the base of the mountain hoping to find enough jewels or other stones that they could sell in order to feed their families and obtain the other provisions they needed.  It was very hard work and the payoffs were very little.

     One day as the man “chipped” away at the mountain with the blazing heat from the sun beating down on him he began to ponder: “All day long I slave away with my pick and the sun is merciless on me.  If I were the sun my life would be free of worries and I would be the one to shine light and blazing heat upon everyone.”

     To his amazement he heard a voice: “So let it be done.”  And the man found himself to be the sun!  Now he shown upon the entire planet and enjoyed his freedom from worries.  Suddenly a cloud drifted along in the sky and blocked the light and heat of the sun from reaching part of the Earth.

     The man thought:  “This cloud has the ability to block my light and heat.  It is certainly greater than I am as the sun.  If I were ONLY the cloud! Then I would have great contentment and satisfaction.”  Once again came the mysterious voice: “So let it be done!”  And the man found himself as the cloud, blocking the light and heat from the sun.

     Along came a gentle breeze and the cloud floated along effortlessly through the sky.  The man thought this was truly the life.  No cares, no worries.  Nothing could make this life any better for the man.  Then as he was floating along there was a sudden halt to his movement.  “What was this?” thought the man.  He looked around and he had drifted into a mountain peak and could no longer advance through the sky.  “I can no longer move freely.  This mountain has proved to be greater than I am.  If ONLY I were the mountain!  Then I would be the greatest.”  Again the voice could be heard: “So let it be done!”  And the man became the mountain.

   Surely the man felt that now he was the greatest as he towered over all the region as far as the eye could see.  He was certain that now he could rest from his worries knowing that as this majestic mountain he would continue to rein over the entire region as the greatest of all.  Then he suddenly felt a chip, chip, chip at his base and realized that his majestic size was being changed.  He looked down from his elevated perch and noticed several men with picks chipping away and removing portions of his very existence.  He took a deep breath and exclaimed: “I have spent the entire day wanting to be something greater than I was as a man.  But, in reality I should be that which I was meant to be.  If ONLY I was the man I started out as at the beginning of the day.”  Again the man could hear the voice as he changed from the mountain back into the man he had been at the morning: “So let it be done.  And find your contentment, my son.”
     Is it wrong to want better?  No!  Is it wrong to seek improvements?  No!  However, many people seek these things with such overwhelming consumption that they lose sight of what they are and the many blessings and advantages they already have.  And in their consuming obsession to obtain MORE they often lose the present things they have.  This whole world is geared to make us want MORE!  Maybe life would be easier if we just developed greater contentment in our lives.  You decide for yourselves.  These are only my thoughts

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"If you can't do something ask for help.

If you CAN do it - - - DO IT!

And stop procrastinating!"