Being Here on Time
As a musician there are days where I can pick up my guitar or mandolin and be spot on, never miss a beat, and every song plays like it was the best. I know it when I am in that place but I could hardly tell you how I got there. The timing came; it wasn’t something I made happen.
There are times when I tie on my running shoes, hit trails or pavement and find a rhythm that is so perfect I could run like Forrest, days on days. This happened recently on an 8 miler. I finished running and saw that over an hour had gone by and it felt like I had just left without a drop of weariness to be found. But I certainly didn’t plan it that way.
Twice in one day I heard from two elder men that life is more about timing than about making things happen. They also talked of how being present today is the only way to be there when the timing is right. These were two very different men in two different contexts, in the backside of long, adventurous lives. (And our culture dismisses these treasures of wisdom as out of touch).
So if I listen to my music, and the rhythm of my running. If I give heed to the wisdom of these Village Elders then it seems the place I need to spend my energy is in the here and now. I say this like it is some kind of profound revelation. Considering how much talk goes on amongst the under 40 crowd about making things happen, though, maybe the young should listen, pay attention to the rhythm of the old.
There are times when I tie on my running shoes, hit trails or pavement and find a rhythm that is so perfect I could run like Forrest, days on days. This happened recently on an 8 miler. I finished running and saw that over an hour had gone by and it felt like I had just left without a drop of weariness to be found. But I certainly didn’t plan it that way.
Twice in one day I heard from two elder men that life is more about timing than about making things happen. They also talked of how being present today is the only way to be there when the timing is right. These were two very different men in two different contexts, in the backside of long, adventurous lives. (And our culture dismisses these treasures of wisdom as out of touch).
So if I listen to my music, and the rhythm of my running. If I give heed to the wisdom of these Village Elders then it seems the place I need to spend my energy is in the here and now. I say this like it is some kind of profound revelation. Considering how much talk goes on amongst the under 40 crowd about making things happen, though, maybe the young should listen, pay attention to the rhythm of the old.