mousewords

The other day, my parents and sister and I went down to the beach just before dark. A storm lowered on the horizon; streaky clouds doused the sun before it could spread its colors over the sea. But even without them, there was no lack of awesomeness.

I’ve spent too much time working on my “geek tan” lately. I forget to go outside, where I can get in touch with nature. So when I stood before tumbling waves and a locked-and-loaded sky, with a dulcet wind touching my face, the beauty of Life took my breath away. And the power of God blew my mind.

“Some part of our being knows this is where we came from.” ~ Carl Sagan

Much as there are good things in my life right now, there are still so many unanswered questions; so many fears and doubts. One by one, I took them out and presented them to my Creator. For each, He gave me an answer—either in the expressions of Nature, or the voice of my own heart. Waves came from opposite directions and blended seamlessly together, becoming stronger. Pelicans touched down on the water and came up with fish, never questioning that food would be right where they looked for it. Venus tipped her brilliant head from behind pewter clouds and winked at me in reply. I breathed deeply. A hard wall built of stress, worldliness, and works began to give way, and I felt peace, connectivity, and faith seep into my soul.

I had just read, “If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.” So, standing on the darkening beach, I thought about my options and clarified three to focus on. I presented those to the Lord, too; and to emphasize the action to myself, I chased down the water’s edge and dipped three fingers into the wave that came to greet me.

We’re connected; we’ll do these things together.

“The cosmos is also within us. We’re made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” ~ Carl Sagan

I returned to my computer to find that one of my Twitter friends had linked to the video below. After watching that, it took me about…five, six days…

…no, scratch that. I still haven’t come down from this high.

Watch, and feel your own connection to the cosmos:

I knew, after our time on the beach, that God and I would work together to make something beautiful. Through this, He told me I needed to expand my expectations.

A still more glorious dawn awaits
Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise.

What awaits you? Maybe go take a walk in nature…and find out.

Check it out!
Amazing original music and remixed video by John Boswell, whose work is “a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.”
“A Glorious Dawn”, and more like it, is available for free download at the following sites:
SymphonyofScience.com
Colorpulsemusic.com

© 2009 mousewords

Tags: Faith, Inspiration by mousewords
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I’ve always loved Saturdays. As a kid, it meant Pop was home all day, and he’d make waffles, pancakes, or muffins for breakfast. It meant cartoons, visiting my grandparents’ house, no school work.

As a teen, Saturdays took on the meaning of movie night, time with friends, no school work.

As an adult, I reverted to some of my favorite childhood activities: cartoons in the morning and painting shows in the afternoon. Saturdays meant no “real work,” a day when I could paint and be creative.

Now, Saturdays once again mean no “real work.” I’ve set them aside as a day of relaxation and renewal, leaving myself free to draw, write, or play to my heart’s content.

But not too long ago, I lost sight of Saturday. While editing our new novel, writing became work. The freelance graphic design I couldn’t complete during the week spilled over to my weekend, and art became work. Days blended together. I got stuff done, but I didn’t take time to enjoy Saturday…to enjoy life.

A precious jewel of a day

Something else I’ve always loved are marbles. When I was a kid, I thought those swirling, multicolored glass orbs were every bit as beautiful as precious stones. Unfortunately, most of mine came from the same set, all similar shades of drab green and yellow. Very boring. But every so often, I’d come into possession of one that was larger or smaller or more colorful than the ordinary marble. To me, that was a real treasure.

In the book Charging the Human Battery, there’s a story in which the author likens Saturdays to marbles:

I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about 75 years…I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime…

It took me until I was 55 years old to think about all this in any detail, and by that time I had lived through over 2,800 Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be 75, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container…

Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.

There’s nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight. ~ From Charging the Human Battery by Mac Anderson

When I let “real work” take over my life, the days become like those old green marbles: all the same size, shape, and color. If I really wanted rainbows of glass when I was a kid, I could have made the extra effort to go out and buy them. But it was easier to just complain a little about my lot in life and enjoy the few bits of beauty that I got my hands on. Much the same way, it’s easier to let work take over the weekends, rather than go out of my way to plan, schedule, and enjoy re-creation time.

Our days of life are precious and brief. Letting a Saturday pass by unnoticed is like dropping a jewel into the trash.

I can’t salvage the ones I’ve missed, but I can surely treasure what’s left. I won’t put a finite number on them—as far as I’m concerned, the only limit on human life is 120 years. But I intend to fill a vase with gorgeous, unique marbles, and keep it close by…to remind me.

So. What are you doing next Saturday?

“Jar of Marbles” photo by DazT

Tags: Inspiration by mousewords
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